Tokyo silver medalist Mary Tucker is going back to the Olympics as one of the first five shooters to qualify for the U.S. team for Paris.
Tucker, a 22-year-old, fifth-year West Virginia senior, won the Olympic Trials women’s air rifle competition that concluded with the third and final stage this weekend in Anniston, Alabama.
In Tokyo, Tucker placed sixth in the individual air rifle and earned silver in the mixed-gender team event with Lucas Kozeniesky.
Sagen Maddalena, who was fifth in the Tokyo Olympic smallbore rifle event, was second to Tucker in the air rifle trials to qualify for her second Games.
MORE: U.S. Olympic roster across all sports
Neither 2022 World champion Ali Weisz nor 2016 Olympic gold medalist Ginny Thrasher made the air rifle team for Paris. Both could still make it in the smallbore event but trail going into the third and final stage of Olympic Trials in March.
Weisz finished third in the air rifle trials, trailing Maddalena by six tenths of a point after more than 600 points’ worth of competition over the three-stage trials.
In air pistol, Lexi Lagan qualified for her second Olympics after placing 38th in Tokyo. She’s joined on the team by 22-year-old Katelyn Abeln, an Ohio State graduate student. Abeln earned the second spot via tiebreaker over 18-year-old Suman Sanghera.
Ivan Roe, a sergeant in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, won the men’s air rifle at trials to qualify for his first Olympics.
Rylan Kissell edged Kozeniesky for runner-up, but the U.S. has not yet qualified a second quota spot for the Olympics. Kissell will attempt to qualify for the Paris Games in international competition in early spring.
Will Shaner, the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist in the event, retired last year at age 22 after joining Ole Miss as an assistant coach.
Nick Mowrer, an Olympian in 2012 and 2021, and Jay Shi, a 2016 Olympian, went one-two in the men’s air pistol, where the U.S. has not yet qualified any Olympic quota spots. Mowrer and Shi will also try to qualify for the Olympics through international competition in the spring.
The mixed-gender team air rifle is the first medal final of the Paris Games starting at 10:30 a.m. ET the day after the Opening Ceremony.
