Paris Olympic Athletes Chosen at Judith Legerski CMP Competition Center
January 19, 2024
By Ashley Dugan, CMP Staff Writer
ANNISTON, Ala. – After finishing the third phase of the 2024 Olympic Trials, five USA Shooting athletes have secured their spots on Team USA for this summer’s upcoming Paris Games.
SGT Ivan Roe, Mary Tucker and SGT Sagen Maddalena were the first rifle athletes to qualify, while Alexis Lagan and Katelyn Abeln locked in a trip to Paris for pistol.
The third round of USA Shooting’s Olympic Selection was held at the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s (CMP) indoor air gun range in Alabama – the Judith Legerski CMP Competition Center. Recently, the 80-point electronic air gun range within the CMP’s air gun facilities in Ohio and Alabama underwent a full upgrade of Megalink targets fit for holding elite, national-level competitions such as the USA Shooting Olympic Trials.
“It was wonderful partnering with CMP for this match,” said Ashley MacAllister, USA Shooting competitions manager. “The CMP Staff are notorious for running high-level, quality matches. It is wonderful to be partnering with individuals who are knowledgeable and have a high expectation at events.”
“Getting the opportunity to work with the new Megalink target system was so much fun. The new system is quite impressive,” she added.
The CMP had previously hosted the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Trials at Camp Perry in Ohio before hosting in Alabama in 2024. With an electronic target line capable of matching the caliber of athletes on the range and a staff dedicated to ensuring accuracy and efficiency, the CMP was eager to aide USA Shooting in this year’s Olympic selection process.
“It was great to once again host the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at a CMP facility and an honor to play a small part in helping to select Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics,” said Brad Donoho, CMP smallbore manager who assisted in facilitating the match. “This competition featured some world-class athletes, including a few current world record holders. We’re thrilled that our new targets allowed us to host this level of talent for this event, and we’re excited to be able to welcome them and many others back for national events in the future.”
Renay Woodruff, Judith Legerski CMP Competition Center manager, added, “We were very pleased with the turnout and how the operation went. Working alongside USA Shooting was a pleasure, with their staff guiding the major parts. The event brought energy to our range and was one of the best events we’ve hosted.”
The Athletes: SGT Ivan Roe, 28, a member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) and a Montana native, will be making his Olympic debut in Paris for the Men’s Air Rifle team. No stranger to international competition, Roe was a member of the 2023 International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Championship team and the 2022 Championships of the Americas (CAT) team, where he earned a gold medal and an Olympic quota for the United States.
Also making an Olympic debut is 22-year-old Katelyn Abeln, a Georgia native who is a current member of The Ohio State University Pistol Team, set to compete in Women’s Air Pistol in Paris. Like Roe, Abeln was a member of the 2023 ISSF World Championship team and the 2022 CAT Games – bringing home three medals.
Tucker, Maddalena and Lagan are all returning Olympians who made their debuts at the Tokyo Games in 2021 (after a postponement of the Games in 2020). There, Mary Tucker earned a silver medal in Mixed Air Rifle with partner Lucas Kozeniesky. A Florida native, Tucker, 22, recently earned three medals at the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile, along with a gold medal and a new team record at the 2023 ISSF World Championship – adding to the 24 total medals she has earned internationally over her career.
SGT Sagen Maddalena, 30, is a California native and former member of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Rifle Team who joined the USAMU after her college years. In 2021, she fired for the Women’s Air Rifle team in Tokyo and found further success in 2023 as she earned the title of Women’s Air Rifle champion at the 2023 Pan American Games. She went on to earn two additional medals at the 2023 ISSF World Championship.
Alexis (Lexi) Lagan, 30, of Nevada, is also a familiar face on the world stage – earning silver at the 2023 Pan American Games and securing a U.S. quota for the Paris Games. She also earned three medals at the 2022 CAT Games and is a six-time national champion.
According to USA Shooting, the final Team USA roster for the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games will be announced closer to summer, after approval is granted by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. The U.S. Paralympic Trials Part Two will be held in February, followed by the U.S Olympic Trials for Shotgun (Part Two) and U.S. Olympic Trials for Rifle/Pistol Smallbore (Part Three) in March.
Good luck to all members of Team USA in Paris! View official USA Shooting results (U.S. Olympic Trials – Air Gun Shooting) at https://usashooting.org/get-involved/events/.
Marksmanship is an Olympic Sport! The roots of Shooting as an Olympic event can be traced back to the international contest’s beginnings – making its debut at the inaugural Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. Since then, Shooting has grown from five events to 15 across six disciplines today: air pistol, air rifle, 25m pistol (rapid fire for men), three-position smallbore rifle (kneeling, prone, standing) and shotgun trap and skeet.
Learn more about the Paris Shooting events and the history of Shooting as an Olympic sport at https://olympics.com/en/sports/shooting/.
Training with the CMP: Though air gun has tested Olympic-level athletes for decades, both air rifle and air pistol serve as excellent introductions to marksmanship. The lightweight, quiet, no-kickback firearms are simple enough to ease new individuals into the fundamentals while remaining challenging enough to keep even the most experienced competitors coming back for more. Each week, the CMP’s indoor air gun facilities are open to the public for practice or a fun outing with friends and family. Visitors may bring their own approved equipment or rent from the CMP, with trained CMP staff members (some former NCAA rifle athletes) always on hand to assist guests on the range.
Learn about CMP’s Competition Centers, including locations and open hours, at https://thecmp.org/ranges/cmp-competition-centers/.