Ethan Clarke: from nowhere to train to flagbearer

Ethan Clarke is a 19-year-old British biathlete, a sport performance science student, and a YouTube vlogger. He can now also call himself a flagbearer at the opening ceremony of the Torino 2025 FISU World University Games.

Clarke has always been fascinated by snow sports. “The fact that biathlon is a snow sport really drew me to [it],” he explained. “But since I started it, it’s the riffle shooting which excites me the most because the skiing can be really tough.”

This is despite the fact that the student-athlete rarely has the opportunity to train in shooting, as there is no biathlon centre in his home country. “My main area to train back home in the UK is in Leeds, where we have a cycling track which we can use for roller skiing in summer,” Clarke said. “But there are no biathlon ranges in England. If I want to train at shooting, I go to an indoor range. However, this is a 25-metre shooting range, not like in biathlon where the targets are 50 metres away.”

To enable the team to train in a real biathlon environment, the athletes from Team Great Britain spend several months abroad. In the summer of 2024, Clarke prepared for the upcoming season in France. When asked whether it is difficult to be away from home for so long, the young athlete said he enjoys travelling. “That’s why I really enjoy this time, but I also miss my family and friends. In the end, I was really excited to go back home again.”

He almost didn’t make it

By taking part in the FISU Games, Clarke hopes to give the sport of biathlon a boost in his home nation. “Not many people know what biathlon is yet,” he admitted. “I hope to get more people from back home involved in the sport. I want to show them what great moments you can experience with winter sports.”

The fact that he has now also been selected to carry the British flag into Inalpi Arena at the opening ceremony – together with curler Robyn Munro – will certainly help him in this endeavour. “It is a great honour to represent Great Britain and biathlon at the opening ceremony. I definitely didn’t expect to be one of the flagbearers.”

However, Clarke also needed a bit of luck to even make it to the big day on time. Only a few days ago, he was completing his final preparations for the FISU Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Before he could get to Torino, he had to make a quick stop back home to pick up his rifle. His flight from Norway to Great Britain was then cancelled. Fortunately, there were still a few seats available on the plane leaving the next morning, giving him only a window of just under 10 hours in his home country before his flight to Italy took off. “I’m pretty tired now!” he laughed.

But the anticipation of the opening ceremony definitely outweighed his airplane woes, although there was also a little nervousness. “I have never met anyone who carried a flag at a big sporting event. I’ve just seen it on TV. As long as I don’t hit anyone with the flag, it will be okay,” he joked.

Ready to perform in Torino

Clarke takes a rather critical view of his results so far this season. “I wasn’t in the best shape this season,” he suggested. “However, I often perform better under pressure and I’ve been able to train very well in the last few days, so I’m really looking forward to the upcoming competitions here in Italy at the FISU Games.” When asked what motivates him during the competition, he replied, “Very loud and above all positive cheers help enormously.”

For the British biathlete, the competition starts on Tuesday, 14 January in Pragelato with an individual 15-kilometre race, where the first biathlon medals will be awarded.

The take place from 13-23 January. Watch all the competitions live on . Click on the link to find the full schedule.

Written by Elena Häfliger, FISU Young Reporter, Switzerland

The Young Reporters Programme exemplifies FISU’s commitment to more than sports competitions. At every FISU World University Games, a group of talented aspiring sports journalists are chosen to cover the competition.

We warmly thank FISU Official Partner Qiaodan Ltd. which provides remarkable uniforms to FISU Family and International Technical Officials since 2015. Qiaodan is a valuable partner for FISU as it continued to provide its support during the postponement of events due to the global pandemic, and recently extended the relationship with FISU up to and including 2025.