McKenna Dahl

McKenna Dahl is one of an exciting new crop of shooters to come out of the USA in recent years.

She became the first US woman to win a medal in the sport at a Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Her bronze in R5 (mixed 10m air rifle prone SH2) propelled her into the media spotlight and represented her best performance.

Maintaining her form has been challenging. At the 2018 World Championships in Cheongju, South Korea; Dahl did not make it to the finals of her three rifle events, nor at the following World Cup in Chateauroux, France.

But the young rifle athlete should not be counted out for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

In 2014, as a teenager, Dahl made a significant step toward achieving her dream of competing at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, securing a quota place for the USA at the World Championships in Suhl, Germany.

Her performance was no doubt helped by a move that same year to the US Olympic and Paralympic training centre in Colorado Springs, where the country’s brightest Para athletes gather to live and train.

Then in 2015 Dahl competed at three World Cups, with her best finish coming from a 13th place in R5 on home soil in Fort Benning.

A rifle specialist, Dahl focuses her efforts on R4 (mixed 10m air rifle standing SH2) and R5.

That focus paid off at Rio 2016 when Dahl won a historic bronze in R5.

At the age of 12, Dahl tried shooting for the first time at a summer camp. Originally a wheelchair basketball player, she preferred shooting because it was an individual sport.

While living in Colorado Springs, Dahl takes online courses in business and technology management and a specialisation in criminal justice at DeVry university with a vision of becoming a lawyer.