With just one year to go until the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, USA shooting athletes are hard at work training with the dream of representing the United States on one of the biggest podiums in the world.
The Olympic Games Opening Ceremony takes place on July 26, 2024 and the Paralympic Games kick off their ceremony on August 28, 2024. Our pistol, rifle, shotgun and Paralympic athletes are focused on securing spots and winning medals in the crucial competitions leading up to the Games during their Road to Paris.
The road to Paris has been unique. Typically, athletes have a full quad, or four, between Games. This quad was shortened to three years due to the Tokyo Games being pushed back to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the challenges of training and competing during a global pandemic, USA Shooting athletes won an impressive total of six Olympic medals in Tokyo. Vincent Hancock and Amber English took gold in the men’s and women’s skeet shooting. Will Shaner won gold in the men’s 10m air rifle. Kayle Browning won silver in women’s trap. Lucas Kozeniesky and Mary Tucker won silver in the mixed team 10m air rifle and Brian Burrows and Madelyn Bernau took bronze in the mixed team skeet shooting.
The medals won in Tokyo brought USA Shooting’s Olympic and Paralympic medal tally to a total of 121 with 58 gold, 32 silver and 31 bronze. USA Shooting also currently holds the most Olympic gold medals in shooting sports of any country.
Our athletes returned from Tokyo at full speed to prepare for Paris. Even with the stress of having less time to prepare for the Paris Games, our athletes have put in incredible international performances in the past two years.
In 2022 alone, our athletes won 44 medals at the Americas Games Championship (CAT), 19 medals at the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Championships, and more than 30 medals at the ISSF World Cup.
So far in 2023, the shotgun team has had incredible performances at the international level and has amassed over 30 medals at ISSF World Cups. The Paralympic team had a strong showing at the 2023 Changwon World Shooting Para Sport (WSPS) World Cup, taking home two bronze medals.
USA Shooting has also secured 15 slots for Paris. Each country is eligible for two places in each event. To date, the USA has earned quotas in the following events:
Gun
Women’s 10m Air Pistol – Earned by Suman Sanghera at the CAT Games
Women’s 25m Pistol – Won by Katelyn Abeln at the CAT Games
Rifle
Men’s 10 Air Rifle – Earned by Brandon Muske at the CAT Games
Women’s 10m Air Rifle – Earned by Mary Tucker at the CAT Games
Women’s 10m Air Rifle – Earned by Alison Weisz at the World Championships
Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions – Earned by Katie Zaun at the CAT Games
Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions – Won by Sagen Maddalena at the World Championships
Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions – Earned by Ivan Roe at the CAT Games
Shotgun
Men’s Trap – Won by William Hinton at the CAT Games
Men’s Trap: Won by Derrick Mein at the World Championships
Men’s Skeet – Won by Dustan Taylor at the CAT Games
Men’s Skeet – Won by Vincent Hancock at the World Championships
Women’s Trap – Won by Aeriel Skinner at the 2022 CAT Games
Women’s Skeet – Won by Dania Vizzi at the CAT Games
Women’s Skeet – Won by Samantha Simonton at the World Championships
USA Shooting also has a Paralympic quota won by Jazmin Almlie-Ryan in the Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH2.
When an athlete earns a quota for the US in a specific event, the US becomes eligible for that athlete to compete in that event at the Olympic Games. Athletes are only eligible to earn one event fee in a four-year Olympic cycle.
The athletes have a few more chances to win quotas for Paris. The next opportunities will be at the 2023 ISSF World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, from August 14 to September 1 and then at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, from October 20 to November 5.
More important events on the Road to Paris are the Olympic and Paralympic trials. The pistol, rifle, shotgun and Paralympic disciplines all have their own testing procedures. Official selection procedures can be found on our website at: https://usashooting.org/resource-center/#category-team-selections
Shotgun conducted the first part of its testing earlier this year in Hillsdale, Michigan at the John A. Halter Shooting Sports and Education Center. His second part of the trials will tentatively take place in the spring of 2024 in Tucson, Arizona at the Tucson Trap and Skeet Club.
The rifle and pistol will have the first part of their Olympic trials in Fort Moore, Ga., at the Army Marksmanship Unit’s shooting range from September 28 to October 3. The second part of their trials will coincide with the 2023 Winter Air Guns Championships at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The third part will take place in the spring of 2024.
The first part of the Paralympic rifle and pistol trials will also coincide with the 2023 Winter Air Guns Championships this December. Its second and third part of the tests will take place in the spring of 2024.
Supporting our athletes during this critical time leading up to the Games is essential to their success. Most people are surprised to learn that USA Shooting and the rest of Team USA are non-profit organizations and receive no government funding. In fact, the US is one of the few countries that does not receive government funding for its Olympic and Paralympic governing bodies.
USA Shooting depends on our members and generous donors to fund the dreams of our American athletes. To make a donation to USA Shooting, visit: https://usashooting.org/get-involved/donate/ To become a USA Shooting member, visit: https://members.usashooting.org/memberregistration
Follow @USAShooting on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with our Road to Paris and learn more about our amazing athletes.
About US shooting
USA Shooting, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee as the national governing body for Olympic shooting sports in April 1995. The organization develops and implements programs to promote growth in sport and acts as the sanctioning body for local and national competitions. Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, USA Shooting has a full-time staff dedicated to our sport.