COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (July 26, 2019)
Twenty-two athletes, including six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode, reigning Olympic gold medalist Ginny Thrasher and six other Olympians, have earned the opportunity to compete for Team USA at the 2019 Pan American Games.
Athletes were determined based on results at the 2019 Spring Selection Matches for USA Shooting. The U.S. Team has always fared well at Pan American Games competition and earned 13 medals at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada.
Action gets underway Saturday with Women’s Air Pistol following tonight’s Opening Ceremony in Lima.
The Pan American Games will be a critically important match to America’s Shooting Team eager to prove itself with a mix of young and proven talent. Athletes will be seeking 10 Olympic quotas at the Pan American Games including two in Shotgun (Men’s Trap), three in Rifle (1 each in M/W Air & 1 in Women’s Smallbore) and five in Pistol (M/W Air, Rapid Fire, 2 Sport Pistol).
With the 2015 Pan American Games U.S. Team Flagbearer and six-time Olympic medalist Rhode (El Monte, California) leading the way and entering Lima with a record four-straight World Cup victories, the U.S. Shotgun Team is rolling thus far in 2019 having claimed 10 medals in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Series.
In search of five Olympic quotas, Team USA’s pistol contingent will include three-time Olympian Keith Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colorado) competing in Rapid Fire Pistol, 2016 Olympian Jay Shi (Phoenix, Arizona) competing in Air Pistol, and 2012 Olympians Nick Mowrer (Butte, Montana) and Sandra Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Alabama) competing in Men’s Air Pistol and Women’s Sport Pistol respectively.
In search of three Olympic quotas,
