KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Kansas, native Lydia Paterson became a sensation in the world of shooting sports as a teenager, collecting junior championships and earning a spot on the national team at only 16 years old.
One year after graduating from Piper High School in 2015, Paterson represented the United States in the women’s 10-meter air pistol at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where she finished 29th overall.
Paterson grew up in KCK and later earned a degree in biology from the University of St. Mary in 2018, according to her Team USA profile.
She was among the youngest members to ever qualify for the U.S. national team and earned an Olympic berth at age 18 by finishing eighth at the 2015 ISSF Munich World Cup in Germany.
Paterson also won the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun. In Rio, she amassed the eighth-most perfects 10s during qualifying (12).
Prior to the Olympic Games, Paterson was a junior champion and silver medalist at the 2013 USA Shooting National Championship, a three-time National Junior Olympic champion (2014-16), won a 2014 Winter Airgun title and also had three other top-40 finishes at World Cup events in 2015 and 2016.
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The Kansas City region has a deep, rich history with respect to the Olympic Games. As the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games approach with the Opening Ceremony scheduled for July 23, we will profile an athlete with ties to Kansas City, Missouri or Kansas each day.
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