PAOLA, Kan. — Three years ago, I introduced you to Derrick Mein, a Paola, Kansas, native headed to Tokyo to compete in Olympic trap shooting.
He finished 24th, but he's back this year for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
I revisited his home this month and found a man whose focus couldn't be sharper.
The first thing I learned is that Mein's been busy since the last time I sat at his dining room table, where he laid out a stack of medals he’s won since 2021.
"I've got three consecutive national championships since the last time you were here," Mein told me. “[In 2022,] I was the first American male to win the men's [world championship] trap event since 1966."
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Clearly, he’s had an incredible run. But his obsession is with what's not on the table.
"I've spent the last three years with one focus, and that's winning an Olympic medal," Mein said.
That focus led to reshaping the skills that got him to Tokyo.
"The first thing I changed, I changed my stance a little bit to allow me to rotate better," he explained. "I was still close together with my feet, but my whole upper body was leaned way forward. And then now, I'm trying to stay a little more upright. Because when I'm upright, it allows me better rotation this way."
"How much muscle memory did you have to fight to change that?" I asked him.
I got a pretty simple answer.
"A lot," Mein said.
He told me it wasn't just a physical shift. Basically, his mind wasn't right in Tokyo.
He tried to compete like he was in his backyard, and it didn't work.
"When I'm out here practicing, I'm working on my mechanical approach to the game,” Mein said. "I'm just trying to hone in that muscle memory. When I get to Paris and I'm actually in competition, I want my mindset to be all about what I have to do right there [in] that moment to break that particular target. If I do that 125 times, I'll make the final, and I'll like where I'm at."
Mein said he wants to feel the intense pressure of the moment because he thrives on it.
"If you're able to put this same display out and put a medal out that says, 'Paris 2024,' what would that mean?” I asked him.
He sounded almost emotional when he replied.
"At this moment in time, it'd mean the world," Mein said. "I'm not gonna say it'd be a failure if I don't, but it'd be as close to a failure if I don't bring home a medal. This might be my last chance to win an Olympic medal. For me, I have to embrace the moment and shoot it for what it is."
Of the many medals Mein has won since Tokyo, one was a silver medal he won for a team event at the exact course in France where he will compete this summer.
The men's trap event will be held in the first few days of the Summer Games.
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