Story by Lt. Col. Michelle Lunato
FORT MOORE — U.S. Army Sergeants Ivan Roe and Sagen Maddalena qualified for the 50m Smallbore event at the 2024 Olympic Games during USA Shooting’s Smallbore Rifle/Pistol Olympic Trials-Part 3 March 17-19.
Both Soldiers, who are marksmanship instructors/competitive shooters for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit International Rifle Team, are already qualified for the Summer Olympics in another event, 10m Air Rifle. This means the Fort Moore Soldiers will represent the Nation in two separate shooting events at the Paris Games.
Roe and Maddalena earned their Olympic Berths after completing three separate trials against the top smallbore (or three-position rifle) marksmen from across the United States.
Roe, a Manhattan, Montana native, won his seat on Team USA with an aggregate score of 2949.0 points. That solid 14-point lead claimed the one available Olympic berth over 35 other competitors. Representing the Nation in two separate events at his first Olympics, means a great deal, said Roe.
“Representing the U.S. is—it’s a dream I’ve had since I was a little kid. So it’s a culmination of everything I’ve been doing the last two decades. It’s a huge, huge milestone.”
Maddalena, a Groveland, California native, won her seat on Team USA with an aggregate score of 2960.5, which tied with civilian athlete Mary Tucker. The 20-point lead Maddalena and Tucker fired easily earned them the two available Olympic berths over 58 other competitors.
Maddalena competed the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, placing 5th in 50m Smallbore, and that experience only made her want to do it again, but this time, in both events she trains on at Fort Moore.
“I remember sitting in my room and thought, in 2024, I am going for both guns, I am going to make this happen.”
Of course, qualifying for the Olympics is no simple task. And even after qualifying in air rifle, Maddalena said that fact did not change her outlook during Smallbore Trials.
“It didn’t have any impact because I knew I had to do my job on both guns and do it to the best of my ability. I knew I had the opportunity to go on both guns, but I still needed to do my job to take that opportunity that was presented.”
Being Roe’s first Olympics, the fact that he was already qualified for Olympic air rifle did take some of the pressure off during Smallbore Trials.
“I definitely think that knowing I was going to the Olympics already, gave me a huge advantage over some of the other competitors because I wasn’t competing for an all-or-nothing spot, it was actually a bonus to what I am already doing.”
