Rifle Selection Match Kicks Off 2015

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (January 2, 2015)

More than 40 rifle athletes will kick off the new year at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado to vie for World Cup slots at the Rifle Selection Match Monday through January 10. This Selection Match will determine the Three-Position and Prone Rifle competitors for the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Changwon, Korea April 8-16, as well as serve as Part 1 of the selection process for the smallbore rifle teams at the World Cups in Fort Benning, Georgia and Munich, Germany in May.

World Cups have added significance for these rifle athletes in 2015 as the four ISSF World Cups and the Pan American Games mark the remaining opportunities for athletes to earn quota slots for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

All team members from the 2014 World Championship team in Granada will be in attendance, including three-time Olympic medalist Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, New Jersey), 2014 NCAA Smallbore Champion Tim Sherry (Highlands Ranch, Colorado), as well as 2014 Three-Position Rifle National Champion Joe Hein (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit / Mason, Michigan) and Prone Rifle National Champion Matt Chezem (Simi Valley, California).

On the Women’s side, Three-Position National Champion and USA Shooting Rifle Athlete of the Year Amy Sowash (Richmond, Kentucky) will look to earn a slot on the team for Changwon. She just missed the podium finishing in fourth place in 2014 at World Cup USA, the Championship of the Americas and World Cup Finals.

Joining her on the line will be 2012 Olympian Amanda Furrer (Spokane, Washington), as well as Sarah Beard (Danville, Indiana) and Emily Quiner (Brooklyn Park, Minnesota) who earned their Air Rifle slots in the Changwon World Cup at the Winter Airgun Championships last month.

One of the highlights of last year’s January Rifle Selection Match was 2012 Free Pistol Olympian Nick Mowrer (Butte, Montana), who earned a spot on the World Cup USA team in Men’s Prone Rifle. Mowrer later went on to win a bronze medal in the event – his first medal in international competition. Mowrer will not compete in this Selection Match.

A similar pistol selection camp and match will be held in late February in Colorado Springs to determine pistol competitors for the Changwon World Cup in Rapid Fire, Free and Sport Pistol events. Air Rifle and Pistol competitors for the Changwon World Cup were selected at the Winter Airgun Championships in Colorado Springs in December.

View the complete Rifle Selection Match schedule here: http://www.usashooting.org/library/Competitions/0_2015/2015_Rifle_Selection/2015_Rifle_Selection_Schedule.pdf.