We are so excited to announce biathlete and elementary school teacher Hallie Grossman joining the Paradis Pro team! A lifelong Vermonter who knows and lives near Craftsbury, VT, she says she loves Vermont and being at home. Yet her sport of biathlon took her across Europe, competing in International Biathlon Union (IBU) cups. She says that in Europe, biathlon holds a level of importance similar to that of American Football in the US. Grossman also traveled to Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics as the first alternate for the U.S. Biathlon team.
When she was growing up, Hallie says she always competed in a lot of sports, primarily horseback riding. She says she began Nordic racing, very casually in fifth grade, “in a wool sweater, I wasn’t that good.” She attended Stratton Mountain School and went on to compete in Nordic Skiing at Bates College in Lewiston, ME.
After graduating from Bates in 2015, she began racing for the Green Racing Project in Craftsbury, VT. During her first winter here, she tore her meniscus. In 2017, Hallie began to learn how to shoot. This was extra challenging as she had to learn to shoot righty even though she’s left-handed. She says she always approached the act of shooting as a sport and a challenge, and that she has no interest in shooting guns outside of biathlon.
Hallie reports one of the hardest parts about biathlon for her is that it was much more inconsistent than Nordic skiing. She remembers a time in Germany when she “cleaned” all the targets, meaning hit every one, resulting in no penalty ski laps. The following day she says she missed at least half of the targets.
During her time on the US Biathlon team, Hallie gave back to the community by coaching young athletes, which helped her interest in working with kids. Hallie is now a fourth and fifth grade teacher in Craftsbury, and loves to bike and ski with her students. She participates in local ski, running, and biathlon races and says she “has had some really powerful moments competing at some of the same races as the athletes that I help coach.”
Hallie says her favorite part about Paradis Sport - besides the fact that she “loves the undies” - is our partnership with GreenTree Recycling. Through this program, Paradis pays for shipping labels to allow customers to send their old retired undies to Green Tree where they are shredded and turned into industrial building insulation.
Welcome to the team, Hallie! We’re stoked to have you on board!
Hallie at the finish line of the Ruhpolding World Cup 2022, with Johanna Taliharm, Estonian biathlete and close friend.
Hallie racing in Ridnaun, Italy
