By Times staff
MONROE - Darlington native Michael McPhail is headed back to the Summer Olympics for the second time in his career.
McPhail, a 2000 Darlington High School graduate and Army Staff Sgt. at Fort Benning, Georgia, with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, will compete in the 50-meter rifle prone event at the Rio de Janeiro Games in August. McPhail competed in the rifle prone in the 2012 London Games and just missed qualifying for the finals.
McPhail, who won two gold medals in World Cup events last year, left this week for Munich to compete in the World Cup.
McPhail started shooting at the Darlington Rifle Club when he was 14 and got his start bird hunting with family friend and shooting coach Bernie Weigel.
He attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and competed on the state's only collegiate shooting team. McPhail joined the Army and the Fort Benning Marksmanship Unit. He used Weigel's old Anschutz target rifle all the way through college, into the Army and the 2012 Olympics.
He was ranked No. 1 in the world in the 50-meter rifle prone last year.
In the London Olympics, McPhail shot a 595 in the qualification round of the 50-meter rifle prone and was in a nine-way tie for the final five spots in the finals. McPhail and the other shooters went to a shootoff tiebreaker, and McPhail emerged from the tiebreaker with the sixth-highest score (51.3), missing the last spot in the finals by three-tenths of a point. McPhail was the highest scoring American in the event.
MONROE - Darlington native Michael McPhail is headed back to the Summer Olympics for the second time in his career.
McPhail, a 2000 Darlington High School graduate and Army Staff Sgt. at Fort Benning, Georgia, with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, will compete in the 50-meter rifle prone event at the Rio de Janeiro Games in August. McPhail competed in the rifle prone in the 2012 London Games and just missed qualifying for the finals.
McPhail, who won two gold medals in World Cup events last year, left this week for Munich to compete in the World Cup.
McPhail started shooting at the Darlington Rifle Club when he was 14 and got his start bird hunting with family friend and shooting coach Bernie Weigel.
He attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and competed on the state's only collegiate shooting team. McPhail joined the Army and the Fort Benning Marksmanship Unit. He used Weigel's old Anschutz target rifle all the way through college, into the Army and the 2012 Olympics.
He was ranked No. 1 in the world in the 50-meter rifle prone last year.
In the London Olympics, McPhail shot a 595 in the qualification round of the 50-meter rifle prone and was in a nine-way tie for the final five spots in the finals. McPhail and the other shooters went to a shootoff tiebreaker, and McPhail emerged from the tiebreaker with the sixth-highest score (51.3), missing the last spot in the finals by three-tenths of a point. McPhail was the highest scoring American in the event.
