An Army NCO whose full-time job in uniform is teaching soldiers how to shoot won the silver medal in Women’s Three-Position Rifle at the Paris Olympics.
Sgt. Sagen Maddalena, who is a marksmanship instructor at Fort Moore, Georgia, took second place in the Olympic event after setting an Olympic record with her qualification score of 593-45x. Switzerland’s Chiara Leone won the gold with China’s Qiongyue Zhang earning bronze.
Once in the Final, Maddalena held the lead through the first 10 shots. Moving into the prone position the Groveland, California native slipped down to fourth with a 155.9 as Leone took the lead with a 156.2.
Olympic rifles are highly-specialized fireamrs that fire a single-load 5.6mm round. Rifles can only be equipped with metal, non-optical sights.
The competition was Maddalena’s second Olympics. She competed in the three-position rifle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics placing fifth. Maddalena grew up in Groveland, California before attending college at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, where she was an 8-time All American on the school’s rifle team.
She enlisted in March 2019 and was assigned to the Army’s marksmanship team as a shooter/instructor.
Maddalena retook the lead during the standing and prone events in the competition and led after 42 shots, when the competition was cut to the final three competitors, ensuring her an Olympic medal.
With the final two shots of the competition, Maddalena secured the silver over China with 463.0 points while Switzerland claimed the Gold.
Olympic shooting features three types of firearms — rifle, pistol and shotgun. In rifle and pistol events, shooters fire at stationary targets on indoor ranges. Shotgun events are held outside and are similar to skeet shooting, where shooters aim at targets hurled in the air.
The last time an American athlete medaled in the event was 2012.