Army Sgts. Sagen Maddalena and Ivan Roe teamed up in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event during the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Deols, France. (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit)

DEOLS, France — Saturday morning wasn’t Army Sgt. Sagen Maddalena’s first Olympic rodeo.

That didn’t stop the nerves from setting in when the Groveland, Calif., native stepped onto the shooting range at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre for the 10-meter air rifle mixed team qualification round at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Maddalena described them as different from her first Games in Tokyo three years prior — but at least she knew how to handle them.

“You just got to fall back on your training and relaxation drills and stuff that I’ve done in the past,” she said. “It helped bring me down a little bit, but definitely those first couple of shots, your heart’s pumping and it’s exciting.”

Maddalena and her partner, fellow Army Sgt. Ivan Roe, finished 18th out of 28 teams with 624.9 points Saturday in the event held just outside the city of Chateauroux, France. They failed to qualify for the medal round later Saturday morning.

China’s duo of Lihao Sheng and Yuting Huang defeated South Korea’s Ji-hyeon Keum and Ha-jun Park in the gold medal match 16-12. Kazakhstan’s Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev earned the bronze medal with a 17-5 victory over German pair Maximilian Ulbrich and Anna Janssen.

Fellow Americans Mary Tucker and Ryland Kissell finished 1.1 points and five places ahead during the qualification round.

Army Sgt. Ivan Roe teamed up with Sgt. Sagen Maddalena in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event during the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Deols, France. Roe and Maddalena totaled 624.9 points. (Brittany Nelson/USA Shooting)

Unlike his partner, Roe didn’t have any Olympic experience upon which to bank. As members of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit out of Fort Moore, Georgia, Roe turned to Maddalena numerous times heading into the Games.

Army Sgt. Sagen Maddalena competed in the 10-meter air riffle mixed team competition with Army Sgt. Ivan Roe on Saturday, July 27, 2024, during the 2024 Paris Olympics at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Deols, France. The duo finished 18th place in the qualification round. (Brittany Nelson/USA Shooting)

Hearing about the scene didn’t measure up to experiencing it, though.

“I didn’t get really nervous until I was sitting in the chair behind my point, and then it all started to hit me at once,” Roe said. “It was definitely hard to deal with.”

The duo expressed how much it helped to have a teammate on the range, even if the results didn’t go as planned.

Maddalena totaled 314.6 points, the 10th-highest individually and seventh-best among female competitors. She started off with 103.5 points on her first series of 10 targets but followed those with 106.0 and 105.1 points on the final two series.

She posted just one shot under 10 points.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks alumna showcased her sharpshooting ways in the final five shots of the second and third sets. In the second, Maddalena went 10.9, 10.6, 10.9, 10.6 and 10.4, while in the third, she popped off a run of 10.8, 10.7, 10.7, 10.6 and 10.9 points.

“My last few targets were decent,” Maddalena said. “I mean, the nerves were still there, but I was able to accept it and work with it a little better.

“I have a lot of stuff to fall back on. Overall, it was a good performance — just wasn’t up there in the score.”

Roe had the same belief about his performance.

His totals between the three series were consistent at 103.5, 103.3 and 103.5 points. But his range was wide from 9-7 to 10.8 3 both of which came in the first series.

Considering the emotions he felt in the moment, the Manhattan, Mont., native expressed contentment with the effort.

“Personally, I don’t feel like I shot badly,” Roe said. “I just wasn’t getting the results I thought I should be getting.”

The 10-meter air rifle mixed team event marked the first competition of three for both Roe and Maddalena. Both qualified individually in the men’s and women’s tournaments, they also will compete in the 50-meter rifle three-position events.

The individual 10-meter air rifle qualification rounds are Sunday, while the finals both will be Monday. The men’s 50-meter three-position qualification is Wednesday with the final Thursday, while the women will square off Thursday and Friday.

Both Maddalena and Roe expressed hope the nerves they experienced Saturday will be long gone by then.

“Tomorrow and the next day, it’s the same target, the same range,” Maddalena said. “So, now you know what the feels are all like.”