Be sure to tune in July 26 — August 11 to see Team USA’s Paralympic team compete at the highest level. In particular, these women are ones to watch:
Scroll to the bottom to check out the times/dates for events, or check out the entire Paris Paralympic schedule here.
Jazmin “Jaz” Almlie-Ryan
Para Rifle
DOB: 12/22/1981
Hometown: Cypress, Texas
College: University of Houston ’06, Biology
Olympic Experience:
- 2024 Paris Paralympic Games: Qualified in R5 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH2
- 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games
- 2016 Rio Paralympic Games
Jazmin “Jaz” Almlie-Ryan has been affiliated with the USA Shooting Team and Team USA for over 10 years, starting with her first training camp in 2011 and officially named to the National Team in 2013. Jaz has won three Paralympic quotas for Team USA, the first in 2016, again in 2020, and her latest was in 2022.
She was introduced to shooting sports at an event called Metal and Muscle Expo in Houston Texas where various sports are featured all at once. Jaz was there to play in a wheelchair basketball tournament when her last game was cancelled. With nothing on her agenda that afternoon, Jaz entered in the air rifle competition that was going on at the same time and won! From there, she was invited to the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center for a novice training camp, and as she says, the rest is history.
Tokyo 2020 was Jaz’s second Paralympic Games appearance. She placed 16th in mixed 10-meter air rifle prone and 17th in R4 mixed 10-meter air rifle.
Jaz enjoys playing different adaptive sports like wheelchair rugby and is known to clock over 10 miles a day speed pushing around her neighborhood. When not training, Jaz enjoys spending time at home with her husband Matthew and daughter, Rebekah.
McKenna Geer
Para Rifle
DOB: 5/1/1996
Hometown: Arlington, Washington
College: DeVry University ’18, Business and Technology Management
Olympic Experience:
- 2024 Paris Paralympic Games Qualified: R4 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2
- 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games
- 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, Bronze Medal R5 10-meter air rifle prone SH2
When McKenna Geer was 5 years old, she started attending Camp Access, a camp for kids with disabilities that introduced the kids to the outdoors, and that anything was possible for them. At 12 years old, she had the opportunity to shoot at a camp activity where the director, Ernie Butler, took notice and invited her to shoot an NRA sectional match later that spring. She competed in her first NRA Junior National competition shortly where her scores put her on the radar of the Paralympic National Coach at the time. Just a year and a half after that shooting activity at Camp Access, she was invited to her first Paralympic Camp at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Training Center.
A week after graduating high school, McKenna became a full-time resident athlete at the OPTC. In 2016, she won a bronze medal in the R5 event at the Rio Paralympic Games, becoming the first U.S. female Paralympic athlete to win a Paralympic medal in the sport of shooting, and the fifth Paralympic medal for USA Shooting overall.
McKenna’s made her second Paralympic appearance at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
McKenna continues to train at the OPTC and works as an athlete on the guest experience team at the Olympic and Paralympic Museum in downtown Colorado Springs. She hopes to use shooting to change the lives of other children with disabilities, just as hers was changed by her mentors at Camp Access. McKenna hopes to become a mentor that the next generation of kids can look up to and show them all that life has to offer.
Schedule of Events (in EDT):
Friday, Aug. 30
8:00am – P1 Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 Final
10:15am – R4 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2 Final
Sunday, Sept. 1
7:00am – R3 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 Final
9:00am – R5 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH2 Final
Monday, Sept. 2
10:45am – P3 Mixed 25m Pistol SH1 Final
Wednesday, Sept. 4
6:15am – P4 Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 Final
Thursday, Sept. 5
5:45am – R6 Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1 Final
Follow @USAShooting on Instagram, Facebook, and X to stay up to date as the team gears up for Paris 2024.
