With second shot at Olympic medal, NC State rifle team alum earns silver
Posted August 4, 2021 5:05 p.m. EDT
Updated August 5, 2021 6:47 a.m. EDT
A "shooting" star from North Carolina State University is back at home after earning a silver medal in Tokyo. It is the second Olympics trip for 26-year-old Lucas Kozeniesky.
His sport of choice: Air rifle. He applies laser eyes and a rock-steady grip to fire a lead pellet, dozens of times, into a speck of a bullseye just under 33 feet away.
"The absolute center of the target is about the size of a period at the end of a sentence in 12-point font, so we have to be aiming at that absolute middle," he explained. "To be competitive, you've got to be within half a millimeter of that thing every time."
Kozeniesky spoke to WRAL News back in 2016, when he was a rising senior and All-American on the NC State Rifle Team bound for the Rio Olympics. That year, he finished in 21st place.
"That did not go the way I thought it would have," he said.
He wanted another shot at an Olympic medal.
"What really broke that barrier for me in air gun was kind of looking at all the details instead of just pulling the trigger." he said. "I started looking at lifestyle stuff, too."
He worked out more, ate better.
"The physical preparation, the mental preparation that goes into it, it takes a lot of time," he said.
In 2020, he qualified again for the Olympics, matching a world record. But this go-around, the Olympics added a mixed team event, giving him a chance to compete not just individually, but with a partner.
He teamed with Mary Tucker of Florida, placing second behind China to bring home the silver.
"Overall, the experience was really good, and I'm kind of on Cloud Nine right now," Kozeniesky said.
When he received his medal, that laser focus, so valuable in shooting, returned.
"When I put it over my head, it was kind of this surreal moment. My ability to hear things around me became very quiet, even though it was a really noisy room," he said. "As it finally hit my neck, it was like yeah, there was five years of work, and this is the affirmation."
Kozeniesky owns his own business as a rifle coach in Colorado Springs where he'll continue his training. He aims to compete again in the 2024 Olympics.
