Woodland native Sagen Maddalena won silver in the Women’s 50m Smallbore Rifle category on August 2 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Maddalena was born in Woodland, and now lives in Groveland, California.
“This is really special,” Maddalena, a sergeant in the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, said to the USA Shooting Team after the event. “There are no words to describe the opportunity coming to fulfillment.”
Sagan is a graduate of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, according to the Shooting Team.
She also competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and ranked 5th place 50m 3-position smallbore.
Sagen began shooting with her local 4-H club, which taught her organization and her grandpa, who taught her patience. Having got her start as a high-power shooter, Maddalena quietly emerged on the scene as one of the top contenders in Air Rifle. She earned a spot on the California Grizzly junior service rifle team where she helped them win the Whistler Boy Trophy in 2011 and Freedom’s Fire Trophy in 2013. Her coach Robert Taylor suggested NCAA shooting, so she went on to learn to compete in both air and smallbore rifle.
She walked-on to one of the best rifle programs in the country at University of Alaska Fairbanks, and red-shirted her first season in 2013. To gain more match experience her coach, Dan Jordan, suggested
she compete at the World Cup tryouts in May 2014, which ultimately proved successful as she earned the privilege to compete internationally. She made the World Championship team again in 2018. During her NCAA career at UAF she was an eight time All-American from 2014-2018.
Sagen enlisted on active duty in March 2019 and was assigned to the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) in Ft. Benning as a shooter/instructor.
She made her Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games where she placed 5th overall in Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions
Her international success continued in 2021 where she earned three ISSF World Cup Medals. In 2022 she secured two medals at the ISSF World Championships and two gold medals at the 2022 Championship of the Americas Games.
She will be competing in her second Olympic Games this summer at Paris 2024.
