TK (27 July 2021) — Mary Tucker, a star rifle shooter for the University of Kentucky, and Lucas Kozeniesky, a star shooter for the United States of America, have won silver in the mixed air rifle category at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
M.C. Tucker Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
Teammate Alison Marie Weisz and another British talent Will Shaner finished in sixth place. As a result of their seventh-place finish in the first qualifying stage, Tucker/Kozeniesky advanced to the second stage. They subsequently faced the Chinese pair Yang/Yang for the gold medal.
Tucker/Kozenisky took home silver after losing to Yang/Yang in the gold medal match, 17-13. After finishing fifth in stage one, Shaner/Weisz advanced to the second stage and finished sixth overall, missing out on the bronze medal match by one spot.
After winning gold in the men’s air rifle competition on Sunday, Shaner becomes the second current member of the British rifle team to medal at these Olympic Games. Tucker, a kinesiology major from Sarasota, Florida, and a sophomore at the University of Kentucky’s College of Education, competed in her first Olympic event on day one and placed sixth in the women’s air rifle final.
Tucker will compete in the women’s three-position smallbore on July31, whereas Shaner has finished with all of her scheduled events. The Florida native made history earlier this year when he qualified for the Olympics in smallbore and air rifle for the state of Kentucky.
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Tucker has had an outstanding 2020-21 season, capping it off with a gold medal performance at the USA Shooting Junior Olympic Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado in May. Tucker took up the gold in the smallbore category and placed fifth in the air rifle competition.
While competing in the NCAA Rifle Championships earlier this year, Tucker guided the Wildcats to their third national title with the highest team score in the modern format. The Wildcats set a new school record for team score and finished the season with a tie for first place in the Great America Rifle Conference Regular Season Championship before winning the National Championship.
As if that weren’t enough hardware for Tucker, in April she also took home gold at the International Shooting Sport Federation’s Women’s Air Rifle 10m competition. She had already won the most outstanding performer award at the March NCAA Championships, so this was icing on the cake.
