Team USA Struggles in Early Olympic Shooting Events

It’s the third day of shooting competitions in the Olympics and the red, white and blue has yet to be unfurled.

The latest disappointment came in the women’s 10M Air Rifle final when Sagen Maddelena finished just off the podium in fourth place, extending a non-medal streak that may last longer than the first three days for a USA team struggling for success.

Maddelena, a 30-year-old from California, started the day in seventh place and fended off lesser challengers, moving slowly up to fourth, but the run ended when she was eliminated by Audrey Gogniat of Switzerland.

“(I was) pretty nervous going into it, but then I got my stuff together and did what I had to do to get my nerves down,” Maddelena said after the competition. “I actually felt fairly calm once I stepped up on the line because I knew my job.”

The defeat capped a substandard appearance in Air Rifle after the promise in the Tokyo Olympics, where both USA shooters, Will Shaner and Lucas Kozeniesky, qualified for the Men’s 10M Air Rifle, Shaner earning gold and Kozeniesky finishing sixth.

USA’s Mary Tucker and Kozeniesky grabbed silver in the Air Rifle Mixed Team in Tokyo, contributing two of the six Olympic medals earned by USA shooting in Japan.

The only American shooter to make it to the finals in any shooting event so far is Maddelena.

“It’s the toughest competition in the world,” Peter Durban, USA Rifle Coach said on Sunday after the poor performance by the USA rifle shooters. “So, we’re doing well, people are in good spirits. Some obviously want to do better, but you know they did what they did. It’s what their body allowed them to do in the day. So far, it’s going well, and now we’re moving on to smallbore.”

When the USA gets to Smallbore, also known as three-position, they will be hoping to gain a medal in an event they haven’t seen the podium in since London in 2012, winning both a Women’s gold (Jamie Lynn Gray) and a men’s bronze (Matthew Emmons).

Derrick Mein may be just what the U.S. needs to right the shooting ship. Trap has been a staple of American success in shooting sports at the Olympics, including a silver medal in Women’s Trap and a bronze medal in Team Trap in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Derrick Mein may continue a tradition of Trap success on Tuesday while simultaneously revealing the USA’s lack of podium appearances on day four of the shooting competition. The 39-year-old Mein, competing in his second Olympic games, has had recent success in Trap, winning the 2022 World Championship in Osijek, Croatia and securing his spot in Paris.

With high expectations, Mein let the entirety of the event get to him early, missing two targets in the first round. After being far down the medal round, he still managed to qualify for the top 6.

“I wanted to come out and I wanted to get off to a good start was really where my mind was, I just got a little wound up, “Mein said of his emotions getting the better of him early. “And I didn’t keep things under control very good.”

It took Mein until halfway through the first round to control his emotions, and from there, he marched back up the talented leaderboard of the best trap shooters in the world.

After 23 points in the first round, Mein missed only one bird in the second round and was a perfect 25 for 25 in the third and final round of the morning, putting himself in position to get into the medal round.

“I’m close, I haven’t looked at the score to see exactly where I finished,” Mein said. “But I know it’ll be in the hunt, going into tomorrow. And that’s really all you can ask for on day one, is to give yourself a chance.”

Sitting in 12th position, Mein is just a point or two away from getting in the mix, but the Olympics has additional tie-breaker rules called count rules in which the targets are counted backward until a missed target is found. It’s one of the last scoring factors, but it could determine on Tuesday who will be in the finals.

“Well, hopefully, I can knock the cover off, knock that dust off, and kind of break through that ceiling for the team,” Mein said. But you know, we’re competing against the best of the best out here. And there’s no shame in not getting up there on the metal stand. There are lots of capable people here who come in, and you just hope to have a chance.”

USA Shooting Final Air Rifle Results

Mixed Team Air Rifle
-Sagen Maddalena and Ivan Roe: 18th place, qualification score of 624.9
-Mary Tucker and Rylan Kissell: 13th place, qualification score of 626

Women’s 10m Air Rifle
-Sagen Maddalena: 4th place, finals score of 207.7
-Mary Tucker: 32nd place, qualification score of 625.2

Men’s 10m Air Rifle
-Ivan Roe: 34th place (tie), qualification score of 626.3
-Rylan Kissell: 34th place (tie), qualification score of 626.3

Women’s 10m Air Pistol
-Katelyn Abeln: 24th place, qualification score of 570-16x
-Alexis Lagan: 25th place, qualification score of 570-15x