Joshua Olson was the first active-duty service member to be nominated to the U.S. Paralympic Team for shooting. Olson competed at his first Paralympic Games in London 2012.
Quota spots in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Paralympic Games will be at stake for 10 U.S. athletes in this week’s IPC Shooting World Cup in Osijek, Croatia.
McKenna Dahl, Nick Beach, Israel Del Toro, John Joss and Ernesto Aquino will compete in rifle. Mike Tagliapietra, Shaun Tichenor, Len Esparza, Kerry Morris and Tricia Downing will compete in pistol.
Dahl, a two-time national champion, won an individual silver medal and team bronze medal in a world cup pistol event earlier this year. She has already earned one quota spot for the United States for the Rio Paralympic Games.
Downing, who will compete in P2 and P3, is in shooting after competing internationally in triathlon and rowing. She is the first wheelchair women’s racer to complete an Ironman triathlon.
Aquino, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a multiple-medal winner in the Warrior Games, will also make his world cup debut in both rifle SH2 events: mixed 10-meter air rifle standing and mixed 10-meter air rifle prone.
This week’s world cup is the first quota-qualifying event in 2015 for the Rio Paralympic Games. Qualifying opportunities will follow in world cup events later this year in Sydney in September and Fort Benning, Georgia, in November.
“This is the first match for a quota slot this year,” said Tichenor, who won a team bronze medal in men’s air pistol in a world cup event in April with Tagliapietra and Esparza. “The key is to not put this match on a pedestal and rely on our process to be successful.”
Paul D. Bowker is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.