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.

Early life Kari Swenson was born in 1961 to Robert Swenson, the head of the physics department at Temple University, and his wife Janet, a nurse; she has two siblings. In 1970, Swenson's family moved to Bozeman, Montana, where her father became head of the physics department at Montana State University. Swenson's mother was also a ski patrol volunteer, and Kari took up cross-country skiing in her youth.

Biathlon By 1984, Swenson had become a member of the three-woman United States biathlon relay team, competing at the first women's Biathlon World Championships in Chamonix, France. The team was awarded a bronze medal for their performance in the event. Swenson placed fifth overall in the women's 10-km final, a record performance at the time for an American biathlete of either gender in twenty-six years of international biathlon competition. In 2015, Swenson and her 1984 teammates, Holly Beattie and Julie Newnam, were inducted into the U.S. Biathlon Hall of Fame.

By the following morning, over twenty searchers were combing the mountains. Swenson's friend Alan Goldstein and a ranch worker, Jim Schwalbe, paired up during the search and stumbled onto the Nicholses' camp. Because the Nicholses had threatened to shoot any rescuers, Swenson shouted to Goldstein and Schwalbe in an attempt to warn them away. She later recounted that Don ordered Dan to "shut me up." The younger Nichols looked directly at Swenson and shot her. "It wasn't an accident," she later said in 2019,

Swenson remained in the clearing, in pain so intense it prevented her from moving, for four hours before she was rescued. Swenson later attributed her survival to the breath control skills she developed as a biathlete.

Capture and trials Don and Dan Nichols were captured in December 1984. They were tried separately in Virginia City, Montana, prosecuted by Marc Racicot, then a staff attorney for the Montana Attorney General. Don was released from prison on August 23, 2017. He died on June 17, 2023.

Media coverage Swenson and her family were not pleased by some of the media coverage of her ordeal, feeling it glamorized her abductors as mythical "mountain men" and stereotyped her, a champion athlete, as a "proper Belle."

A television movie titled The Abduction of Kari Swenson, produced by NBC, aired on March 8, 1987. It starred Tracy Pollan in the leading role as Kari Swenson. Swenson contributed as a technical advisor during production and also filmed her own ski sequences. The A&E documentary series American Justice detailed the story in 1995, reenacting Swenson's abduction and the Nichols’ subsequent trial. Her story was also featured on the Investigation Discovery series Your Worst Nightmare, premiering on February 11, 2017. In 2019 her story was the focus of an ESPN 30 for 30 podcast titled "Out of the Woods." The 30 for 30 podcast episode was also featured in the Criminal episode #128, titled "Deep Breath".

Later life Following the kidnapping and the immediate aftermath of her injuries, Swenson returned to training, earned a spot on the United States biathlon team and she competed in the 1986 biathlon competition in Oslo, where she finished fourth. That year, she retired from biathlon competitions. She then enrolled at Colorado State University Veterinary School, where she graduated in 1990. After working for five years at a small animal veterinary practice in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, she returned to Montana, and as of 2019, she was a practicing veterinarian in Bozeman.