(NEXSTAR) — Sergeant Robby Burns is in Italy this week to support his fiancée, Deedra Irwin, as she attempts to win a historic first Olympic medal for the United States in biathlon.
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An Olympic power couple, Burns and Irwin met at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Games. Burns was a snowboarder for Team USA in 2022. Both Burns and Irwin serve in the Vermont National Guard and represent the U.S. Army World-Class Athlete Program.
Burns recalled making eye contact with Irwin while both were dressed in their official Team USA kits and wearing face masks due to pandemic protocols.
“I can just remember clear as day making eye contact with this beautiful brown-eyed blonde dyed brown-haired girl and kind of eye smiling at each other,” Burns said. “The odds of that happening are so insanely low. And the fact that they did, we’re just super grateful for it,” he said.
Irwin told Local 5 the same story on February 6, as she called Burns one of her biggest supporters.
“He’s been my rock,” Irwin said. “Our eyes locked at the opening ceremonies and it was love at first sight.”
Beyond their personal connection, Burns has spent the last four years learning the complexities of biathlon. The sport, which is highly popular in Europe but less so in the United States, combines high-intensity cross-country skiing with precision rifle shooting.
“Now we’re talking about athletes that are doing anywhere from 600 to 800 hours of cardiovascular training every single year without taking a year off,” Burns said. “Every time she steps up to the starting line and crosses the finish line, she has an opportunity to be a medal contender in a World Cup race at the Olympics and World Championships,” he said.
Irwin is currently the No. 1-ranked biathlete in the US and is set to compete in six events during the 2026 Winter Olympics.
While focused on competition, the couple is also celebrating Valentine’s Day together in Italy. Burns, who is from Mount Shasta, Calif., planned a personal surprise for Irwin rather than ordering gifts online.
“I want to go find a local florist, I want to go ask them to put an arrangement together, I want to write some words on a card and then I want to hand deliver it to her house because I’m here,” Burns said.
The professional lives of the couple are also linked through their service in the Vermont National Guard and the U.S. Army World-Class Athlete Program. This program supports more than 600 athletes who have collectively won more than 120 Olympic and Paralympic medals.
“What a tremendous blessing it is for us athletes to be able to be the face of that in a sense,” Burns said. “We get this tremendous blessing to go represent our country.”
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Burns serves as an infantryman with the 86th Infantry Combat Team. Irwin’s role in the National Guard is as a human resource specialist. When not competing, she handles personnel paperwork and insurance for other soldiers.
Irwin is scheduled to compete in her sixth event, the mass start, on Sunday, Feb. 22. She must qualify for that final race through her performance in sprint and pursuit events over the next 10 days.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by Nexstar. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by Nexstar staff before being published
