January 17, 2017 (Canmore, AB) – In this edition of Talkin’ With the Gravey Train, our host Peter Graves talks with Max Cobb, President & CEO of the US Biathlon Assoc. and more recently the Vice-President of Sport at the International Biathlon Union (IBU). Cobb is the first American to be elected to the Executive Board since its inception in 1993.

The first recorded biathlon competition is said to have taken place back in 1767.

No, Max Cobb wasn’t there, but few people globally have made a mark on the sport like Cobb, who is helping to guide the world’s fortunes of the sport he loves so much, and has been a modern-day champion of all the great things his sport represents. In doing so Cobb has made a huge difference.

A bright, kind and deeply empathetic Max Cobb, caught the skiing bug during his years at Dartmouth and their ski team, skiing under Big Green legend John Morton. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1987. He worked in many areas of the Nordic sports world including the US Adaptive Team. Later he oversaw operations at NENSA and by all accounts was a superb leader and administrator, and very well liked.

Cobb started working at the US Biathlon Association (USBA) in 1989 and quickly impressed, being named Program Director in 1994 and the Executive Director in 2006. During the Salt Lake Olympic Games he was the Biathlon Chief of Competition and managed a large team to great success. Later that year, he was elected to the IBU Technical Committee, becoming the Chairman in 2010.

Later he was named as the President and CEO of the USBA. The Board and everyone else in the US Olympic movement recognized Cobb for his superior leadership skills and his widely respected views on sport. During his tenure Cobb has built the USBA elite program into something of a powerhouse. One has only to look at the fine performances of team members such as Susan Dunklee, Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey for a glimpse at the great direction the program is taking. The team is a near perfect blend of wise veterans and promising young athletes, an ideal combination.

In a clear sign of his growing influence in the sport, Cobb was elected VP of Sports for the powerful IBU.

Cobb has also demonstrated courage and conviction of character by being one of the world’s leading spokespersons on anti-doping and an outspoken advocate for clean sport – we laud his efforts. He loves and cares about biathlon deeply, it’s in his DNA. And he has earned his stripes doing things the right way, and with considerable wisdom.

He recently came back from an IBU Executive Board meeting in Germany, and that’s where we begin this special edition of TWTGT.

Interview with US Biathlon’s Max Cobb