The men’s rifle competition didn’t see much drama at the top as Lucas Kozeniesky cruised to the first of two qualifying spots with the top qualifying score (627.4) and a second place finish in the final. His final margin of 18.6 over second place showed there was no real drama for him on Sunday. But drama was plentiful in the race for second. Ivan Roe had been in second going into the day but had a disaster shooting a 617.5 and not making the final. He held on to second place before the final but it was only by a tenth of a point over Daniel Lowe so there was no way he could stay in front and his Rio hopes were over. Lowe wasn’t guaranteed the spot though. Bryant Wallizer came from nowhere to pull a point behind Lowe after a big time qualifying round and Dempster Christenson had rallied from a first day missed final to sit just 1.3 behind Lowe. Wallizer ended up being the first man out in the final narrowing the race for the final Olympic spot to Lowe and Christenson. Those two became part of the final three but Christenson was knocked out first and finished in sixth, clinching the spot for Lowe. In the end Lowe finished with a 3.3 point lead over Christenson.
Jason Turner put himself in position to challenge Will Brown for the Olympic berth in the men’s air pistol during Sunday’s final but was unable to take advantage as a last place finish cost him any hopes of going to Rio and saw Brown rise to the occasion with fourth place finish that was plenty good enough. Turner had been one of four shooters (though the only one in occasion) to post a qualifying high 575 to start the day, one better than Brown’s score, but he needed to finish ahead of Brown in the final to overcome his one point deficit and when he was the first one knocked out Brown had locked up a spot in Rio. Brown finished with a 1746 total, five ahead of Turner, while Alexander Chichkov won the final to lock up third, 11 points behind Brown.
Sarah Scherer had no easy path on Sunday as she won the women’s air rifle competition with a second place finish in the final. Sagen Maddalena closed to within 3.2 points with Elizabeth Gratz just 1.1 behind her after both topped Scherer in qualifying where Gratz had a qualifying high 417.5. Scherer would be fine as long as she finished in the top half and did more than that as she outlasted both Maddalena (who finished fourth) and Gratz (who finished sixth) en route to a second place finish. Scherer’s final margin was 5.2 over Maddalena with Gratz another 3.1 back.
Lydia Paterson grabbed her spot with ease in the women’s air pistol as she posted the best qualifying score of the day (a 381) and won the final for the third straight day. Her final margin of victory was a whopping 24 points over Alexis Lagan with Courtney Anthony and Sandra Uptagrafft both finishing 28 points back in third. Paterson may or may not be a medal contender in Rio but she’s clearly the best the US has to send.
In the end all five shooters who held the Olympic spots after day one ending up securing them, with only Lowe losing his hold on the spot on Saturday evening.
With the US Olympic team finalized the attention turns to two separate events that will attract US shooters later in June. The Rifle and Pistol National Championships will take place in Ft. Benning, Georgia June 22nd-29th while from June 20th-29th in Baku, Azerbaijan there will be an ISSF World Cup event featuring rifle, pistol, and shotgun events.
Previous US Air Shooting Olympic Trials Coverage:
Preview
Friday Update
Saturday Update