Colorado Springs, CO -(AmmoLand.com)- We’re just 133 days out from the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and USA Shooting athletes are will be competing in three U.S. Olympic Team Trials to earn the 14 remaining spots in shooting for Team USA.
We get you ready by summarizing each of the three Olympic Team Trials below.
U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Smallbore (Rifle/Pistol):
- April 1-8 at the home of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit in Fort Benning, Georgia
- Only Olympic Team Trials for Smallbore (.22 caliber) events
- Five slots on the Team will be up for grabs among the 61 athletes competing – one each in Women’s Three-Position Rifle, Sport Pistol, Men’s Prone Rifle, Rapid Fire Pistol and Free Pistol.
- The U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Smallbore will consist of three straight days of competition for each event, featuring three Qualifiers and three separate Finals. Each day’s qualifying scores and points from the event Finals will be added to each competitor’s score to get a cumulative total. Nominations to the U.S. Olympic Team will occur for each event pending the last Final of the given event. Only those athletes who have earned a 2016 Rio Qualifying Minimum Qualifying Score (MQS) will be eligible to compete in this Olympic Team Trial.
- For credentials or more information, contact Jessica Delos Reyes by phone at (719) 866-4896 or by e-mail at jessica.delosreyes@
usashooting.org.
U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Shotgun:
- May 16-25 at the Delta Resort and Spa in Tillar, Arkansas
- Part two of a two-part Olympic Team Trials
- Four slots on the team are available – One in Women’s Trap, one in Men’s Skeet, one in Women’s Skeet and one in Double Trap.
- For credentials or more information, contact Kevin Neuendorf by phone at (719) 866-4605 or by e-mail at kevin.neuendorf@usashooting.
org.
U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun (Rifle/Pistol):
- June 3-5 in Camp Perry, Ohio
- Part two of a two-part Olympic Team Trials
- Five Team slots will be contested – One each in Men’s Air Pistol, Women’s Air Pistol and Women’s Air Rifle. Two slots are available in Men’s Air Rifle.
- The top-10 finishers from the first part of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in December have been invited to compete in this match. Competitors for this match could also earn their slot to compete by earning at minimum the tenth-place score in their discipline from the first part of Team Trials in December at a Final Chance Match May 13-15 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. All competitors at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun in June will start out at zero. This match will consist of three straight days of competition for each event, featuring three Qualifiers and three separate Finals. Each day’s qualifying scores and points from the event Finals will be added to each competitor’s score to get a cumulative total. Nominations to the U.S. Olympic Team will occur for each event pending the last Final of the given event.
- For credentials or more information, contact Jessica Delos Reyes by phone at (719) 866-4896 or by e-mail at jessica.delosreyes@
usashooting.org.
Six USA Shooting Team members have already earned 2016 Olympic Team nominations based upon points they earned for outstanding performances in 2015 World Cup competition, the Shotgun World Championships, World Cup Finals and Selection Match events. Those athletes are Morgan Craft (Women’s Skeet/Muncy Valley, Pennsylvania), Matt Emmons (Men’s Three-Position Rifle/Browns Mills, New Jersey), Vincent Hancock (Men’s Skeet/Eatonton, Georgia), Keith Sanderson (Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol/Colorado Springs, Colorado), Michael McPhail (Men’s Prone Rifle/Darlington, Wisconsin/U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit) and Glenn Eller (Men’s Double Trap/Houston, Texas/USAMU). Click here to learn how these athletes earned their nominations.
Each of the slots available (and the six who already have been filled with Team nominations) were earned by Olympic quotas that were won in 2014 and 2015. Learn more about how Olympic quotas were secured here.
About USA Shooting:
USA Shooting, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of shooting in April 1995. USA Shooting’s mission is to prepare American athletes to win Olympic medals, promote the shooting sports throughout the U.S. and govern the conduct of international shooting in the country.
Check us out on the web at usashooting.org and on Twitter at twitter.com/USAShooting.