Army Sgts. Sagen Maddalena and Ivan Roe of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit qualified Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in women’s and men’s 50m smallbore at USA Shooting’s pistol and rifle Olympic trials at Fort Moore, Ga. (USA Shooting)

Army Sgts. Sagen Maddalena and Ivan Roe have doubled their chances at scoring an Olympic medal this summer in Paris.

The two soldiers, both of whom are instructors/competitive shooters for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, qualified Tuesday in women’s and men’s 50m smallbore at USA Shooting’s pistol and rifle Olympic trials at Fort Moore, Ga.

Maddalena and Roe already had qualified for the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics in Paris in January in 10m air rifle.

Roe tallied an aggregate score of 2949.0 points, a 14-point over 35 other competitors. Maddalena finished with an aggregate score of 2960.5, which tied her with civilian athlete Mary Tucker.

It will be the second Olympic Games for Maddalena, 30, of Groveland, Calif. She competed at the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics in the 50m Smallbore event and placed fifth. Roe, 28, of Manhattan, Mont., will be competing in his first Olympics.

Maddalena, who has been shooting since she was a kid in her 4H club, competed for the University of Alaska Fairbanks where she was an eight-time NCAA all-American in air rifle and smallbore shooting.

Army Sgts. Sagen Maddalena and Ivan Roe will compete for the USA in shooting at the Paris Olympics this summer. (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit)

She said earlier this year that she joined the Army, in part, because she loved the sport: “My reasons for joining the Army were to challenge myself, experience new opportunities, excel as a competitive shooter and to join a team that would push and support me on my path to the Olympics.”

Since finishing fifth in 50m smallbore in Tokyo, Maddalena has indeed excelled: Nine gold medals, two silver medals and five bronze medals at various international competitions in addition to multiple U.S. championships.

Roe was a seven-time NCAA all-American at Murray State University in Kentucky, building upon his junior marksmanship foundation by earning three international medals.

Joining the Army after college, he said, seemed like the right move.

“The Army said, ‘Hey we can provide you with everything you need to be a successful shooter.’ So to me, it seemed like a no brainer,” he said.

The Army Marksmanship Unit, which is headquartered at Fort Moore, will send two other soldiers to Paris.

On Sunday, Staff Sgts. Rachel Tozier, 31, and Will Hinton, 28, qualified for the Paris Olympics in trap shooting during USA Shooting’s Shotgun Olympic Trials in Tucson, Ariz.