Kari Swenson

Kari Swenson (born 1961) is an American veterinarian and former biathlete who earned a bronze medal as a member of the 1984 United States relay team competing in the first women's Biathlon World Championships in Chamonix, France. She placed fifth overall in the women's 10-km final, which, at the time, marked the best performance for an American biathlete of either sex in twenty-six years of international biathlon competition. In 2015, Swenson and her 1984 teammates were inducted into the U.S. Biathlon Hall of Fame. In 1984, Swenson was abducted and held captive for eighteen hours by survivalist Don Nichols and his son, Dan. Her captivity ended when she was shot and left for dead; the captors also killed her friend, Alan Goldstein, who had been involved in the search for her. In 2020, Swenson married the former German biathlete and coach to Walter Pichler in Ruhpolding Germany. Both met in Oslo 1984 and reunited in 2019.