29-year-old biathlon competitor Deedra Irwin from Pulaski placed 15th in Sunday's race in the IBU Cup in Osrblie, Slovakia, qualifying her to compete for Team USA in the Winter Olympics.
That moved her into the top qualifier from all of her trial races.
Irwin will be heading to the Winter Olympics with Team USA.
Monday she will be traveling to Germany to join the World Cup Team.
"Coming from a small farming community and making it to pretty much world travel. Like, it's the coolest job ever," says Irwin talking about her small-town roots of Pulaski to her now a globe-trotting lifestyle as Biathlete forTeam USA.
The 29-year-old is a master of not one but two opposing sports.
"I just fell in love with it. It was such a unique challenge to add Nordic skiing, the entire rifle component, and the precision shooting part," Irwin says.
Just four years ago, Irwin started her Biathlon career and quickly made her name in the sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. But this 2010 graduate of Pulaski High School didn't start out as a Biathlete.
