U.S. Olympic trap shooter Corey Cogdell-Unrein won her first bronze medal eight years ago at the Olympic Games in Beijing. This year she received her second in Rio de Janeiro, defeating Spain’s Fatima Galvez after a second shoot-off in the women’s trap shooting event.
Saturday’s shoot was anything but ideal weather-wise. Strong winds affected the day’s event, forcing Cogdell-Unrein to focus on her targets even more than she normally does. She was tied with New Zealand’s Natalie Rooney for first place following the semifinals but lost out on advancing to the gold-medal round by one clay.
Keeping a cool head prevented her from losing any more ground and secured her a solid third behind Rooney, who finished second, and the gold-medal winner, Australia’s Catherine Skinner. Cogdell-Unrein ultimately broke 13 of 15, with the final break clinching her spot on the podium.
Cogdell-Unrein’s Rio medal was the sixth of (as of press time) 32 for the U.S., and the second Olympic medal of her career. She seems to have a penchant for third place: She placed third in the 2007 Changwon World Cup—her first international event—again in the 2007 Pan American Games, and twice, 2007 and 2010, in the U.S. National Shooting Championship. She won gold in the 2012 ISSF World Cup, the 2010 Championship of the Americas, and the 2009 U.S. National Shooting Championship, as well as a silver medal in the 2010 ISSF World Cup.
Cogdell-Unrein shot her Rio event with a Krieghoff K-80. As a competition model, the gun features 30-inch barrels and a custom stock. Hers was an engraved model, with the company’s Vintage Game Scene 1 appearing on the receiver.
While her performance in Rio was phenomenal and certainly leads one to assume she could pass the Olympics Trials again, Corey’s plans for 2020 are still up in the air. The wife of Chicago Bears linebacker Mitch Unrein, she says their family will factor heavily in the decision to shoot or not shoot in the Tokyo Summer Games.
“I would love to stick around for another four years and try for another (Olympic) Games,” she told Team USA. “I never know where life will take me and I am going to take it one day at a time and enjoy this victory right now. I will get home and talk with my husband and coaches to see where we go from here.”