The second weekend of the USA Shooting Winter Airgun Championships and Olympic Trials Part 1 will feature competition for air pistol and para pistol. The event takes place Dec. 15-16 at the Colorado Springs Olympic & Paralympic Training Center.
The two-day competition format will feature finals taking place at the conclusion of Monday’s qualification rounds. The event serves as part 1 of the Olympic Trials, with points carrying over to the second part of the trials taking place Feb. 24-March 2 in Ft. Benning, Ga.
This match also serves as one of the many chances for Paralympic athletes to get a registered score for the Paralympic Trials, which consists of a nearly year-long process where athletes need to register four courses of fire to be eligible for selection. Athletes with four courses of fire will have their top four scores averaged and the highest average score will be selected to the 2020 Paralympic Team.
The men’s air pistol field includes junior national air pistol runner-up Samuel Gens (Andover, Mass.); 2018 CAT Games air pistol gold medalist and 2020 quote winner James Hall (Columbia, Mo.); 2019 junior national champion in air pistol, 15-year-old Paul Kang (Los Angeles, Calif.); Brian Kim (New London, Conn.) who is currently third in the rapid-fire Olympic Trials; Anthony Lutz (Orient, Ohio) who was third at the 2019 National Championships in air pistol; 2012 U.S. Olympic Team member for free pistol, 2019 air pistol national champion and 2020 quota winner Nick Mowrer (Butte, Mont.); three-time rapid-fire pistol champion (2008, 2012, 2016) Keith Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colo.) who currently sits in second place in the rapid-fire Olympic Trials; and 2016 Olympian for air pistol and free pistol Jay Shi (Phoenix, Ariz.), runner-up in the 2019 National Championships for air pistol.
The women’s air pistol competition features 18-year-old Katelyn Abeln (Douglasville, Ga.), second-place finisher in air pistol at the 2019 Junior National Championships; 15-year-old Ada Korkhin (Brookline, Mass.) who placed third at the 2019 Junior National Championships in air pistol and currently sits in third place in the Olympic Trials for sport pistol; 2018 CAT Games gold medalist in air pistol and 2019 air pistol national champion Alexis Lagan (Boulder City, Nev.) who is also currently leading the Olympic Trials in sport pistol; and Sandra Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Ala.), who placed third at the 2019 National Championships and is currently second in the Olympic Trials for sport pistol.
Full selection procedures can be found here.
2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials Schedule
Sunday, December 15 – Men’s and Women’s Air Pistol
Monday, December 16 – Men’s and Women’s Air Pistol + Finals
Full schedule here.
