Sagen Maddalena Shows Mettle, Wins Medal In Olympics
UAF rifle alum Sagen Maddalena, who we featured in our July issue, returned to the Summer Olympics after a near miss for her first Olympic medal three years ago in Tokyo. This time, in the finals of the 50-meter rifle three-positions, the Sergeant in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit had a wild ride early Friday morning but secured a silver medal!
We stayed up late to watch the final online, and it was indeed a crazy time for Maddalena, who finished first in the qualification round entering the eight-woman final.
Maddalena’s kneeling, prone and standing scores saw her drop from first to fifth, back to first and then down to fourth.
And as competitor after competitor dropped out, it came down to Maddalena, who was the veteran of the group…
…and Switzerland’s Chiara Leone.
Then it came down to the Swiss and American women.
In the final shoot-off from a standing position, Leone earned the gold and Maddalena seemed thrilled to take the podium in second.
Here’s more from USA Shooting:
“This is really special,” said Maddalena, a sergeant in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. “There are no words to describe the opportunity coming to fulfillment.”
Maddalena, the 2023 ISSF World Championship bronze medalist, had an outstanding roller-coaster of a final. She started off the three position final strong in kneeling and prone where she consistently led the pack.
Going into the final position of standing, Maddalena was in first place overall. In her first series of five shots, she fired off an 8.1 and an 8.6, dropping her down from first place to fifth. After the second five shot series in standing, the bottom two athletes were eliminated.
When asked how she shakes off bad shots, Maddalena mentioned that she accepts making a mistake, knows to not dwell on the mistake, and trusts her process and herself to get back on track.
Athletes moved into single shot eliminations where Maddalena shot an incredible 10.8, moving her back up to first place. Maddalena fluctuated between the top three spots during the single shots and found herself in a shoot off with Qiongyue Zhang, of China, for third place. Maddalena shot a 9.9, beating Zhang’s 9.7, leaving China with the bronze.
Madalena secured her silver medal after Chiara Leone, of Switzerland took her final shot and had an overall score 464.4, just higher of Maddalena’s 463.
Maddalena, a University of Alaska Fairbanks alumni, placed fifth in Women’s 50m Smallbore at the Tokyo 2020 Games, where she made her Olympic debut. The crowds in Tokyo were minimal dude to the COVID-19 pandemic, a clear contrast to the crowd in the finals hall today.
“It was really hyped up in a good way,” Maddalena said. “To shoot a good shot and hear the stands erupt was awesome. It pushed me a little bit.”
And check out more social media reaction to Maddalena’s achievement (it was Team USA’s first shooting medal of the Paris Games):
Congrats to Sagen!
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