Camp Perry Ohio – October 2026- At the 2026 National Three-Position Smallbore & Air Gun Championships, SSG Sagen Maddalena, 33, and SGT Ivan Roe, 30, of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) were each presented with their Three-Position Smallbore Distinguished Badges.
It’s a high distinction in the marksmanship community and one that both worked hard to achieve, but it wasn’t the only proof of excellence the pair brought home from the annual event.
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The 2026 National Three-Position Smallbore & Air Gun Championships, facilitated by the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP), was held July 12-16 as part of the National Matches at Camp Perry – a month-long event held in Ohio since 1907.
The air gun and smallbore schedule included indoor 60 Shot Air Rifle and Air Pistol Matches, fired within the Gary Anderson CMP Competition Center, along with outdoor three-position smallbore on Camp Perry’s Petrarca Range – all featuring electronic target scoring. Competition included open individual and team events for adults and juniors in each discipline as well as aggregate awards for those participating in both air rifle and smallbore.
An Olympic silver medalist, Maddalena led the overall three-position smallbore and air rifle aggregate with a score of 2,418.2 – just one point above Roe. Past National Matches champion Cecilia Ossi, 24, of Fairbanks, AK, earned a score 2,404.3 for third.
On the way to the aggregate win, Maddalena claimed the National Air Rifle Championship title – beating out another USAMU teammate, SPC John Blanton, 24, and fellow Olympic silver medalist Lucas Kozeniesky, 31, who took second and third, respectively.
Roe came back to best Maddalena in the smallbore elimination final to earn gold overall, with Maddalena taking silver and Kameron Wells, 20, of Granbury, TX, earning bronze.
Wells completed her set of medals at the 2026 National Matches by also taking home silver in the junior smallbore final and gold in the Junior Air Rifle Championship.
Angela Yang, 14, of Maple, ON, fell short of Wells by just 0.2 points for second in air rifle, as Maggie Palfrey, 18, of Indiana, PA, followed in third.
Matthew Kimball, 19, of Pineville, LA, reached the top of the podium over Wells in the junior smallbore final, with Gabriella Sprague, 20, of Falls Creek, PA, finding third. It was an incredible comeback for Sprague, who qualified for the eight-person final in eighth place.
Maddalena, Roe and Blanton were also part of both winning 4-member teams in smallbore and air rifle – joining SSG Timothy Sherry for an overall score of 4,600-177X in smallbore and SSG Brandon Muske in air rifle to reach a score of 5,008.7.
In other honors achieved at the event, Chance Cover, 35, of Columbia, MO, earned a Three-Position Smallbore Distinguished Badge of his own, while 15 other individuals claimed 60 Shot Air Rifle Distinguished Badges for their continued excellence on the firing line.
Special thank you to Walther Competition Shooting USA for attending as event sponsor and generously providing award money to the open and junior competitions. In Open, first earned $500, second $400 and those in third received $300. In the Junior category, first received $250, second $200 and third $150. Walther also contributed to the event’s Beach Party, which provided a fun social opportunity to everyone in attendance.
View a complete list of results of the 2026 National Matches Smallbore & Air Gun Championships at https://ct.thecmp.org/2026NMAGSBResults. Photos are available online at https://cmp1.zenfolio.com/f767946623.
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