A U.S. Army sergeant from Pattonsburg, Missouri, has been selected to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, representing the nation on Team USA for the Women’s Trap event.
Sergeant Rachel Tozier states that she has wanted to go to the Olympics since high school and specifically joined the army to shoot for the Marksmanship Unit, where she has been for the past seven and a half years.
“I started shooting when I was 12 years old. My stepdad got me started. He put an American trap in our front yard and told me that I needed to learn how to shoot,” said Tozier. “I was reluctant at first, but after I got started, I was addicted.”
The hard work paid off, and while she was chosen as an alternate for the Tokyo Games in 2020, she recently qualified to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s been a long, hard journey, but to finally make it is absolutely amazing. There aren’t even words to describe what an awesome feeling it is to make the team.”
Tozier will be participating in an international trap, where competitors use a shotgun to shoot targets 30-35 meters away. Her personal best is shooting 122 targets out of 125. A score of 120 is considered really good, but Tozier still trains daily for the big day.
“Training every day, just go out, shoot a couple of rounds, take a little break. I’m probably shooting six to eight rounds a day, so between 150 and 200 targets a day, just getting ready for this. I shoot five days a week, so it’s a heavy load, but it’s great to get the training and be able to go out and train whenever I want, however much I want.”
To any aspiring marksmen looking to go big like her, Tozier says to keep pushing yourself.
“It took me 14 years from the time I wrote that on my board, and I had never shot an international target before at that point. So just keep pushing. You may not make it the first time, but keep trying.”
Tozier will compete late this summer in Paris and states that her family has been her biggest support system during this accomplishment.
