K-State alum Derrick Mein returned from Paris Friday, though it wasn’t from any regular vacation.
The Paola native took fifth place in trap shooting at the Olympic Games late last month, his second time representing Team USA in the international competition.
“I thought I had a pretty good performance,” Mein said. “I would have liked to have made it just a little bit farther and brought home a medal, but I got closer than anybody’s been from the U.S. in 20 years in my event.”
Mein competes in shooting sports full time and also provides some shooting instruction.
“We usually go overseas four or five times a year to compete in World Cup events, and then I’ve got a lot of competitions here in the U.S. that I’ll go compete in as well,” he said.
Mein has earned eight international medals in men’s trap shooting, including the 2022 World Championship gold and 2024 Shotgun Championships of America (CAT) Games gold.
Back when he was a student, the 38-year-old was a member of K-State’s Shotgun Sports Club, which still is active today. Mein said he first started shooting at 8 years old.
Mein’s first Olympics appearance was at the Tokyo Games in 2021, where he placed 13th in team trap shooting and 24th in individual men’s trap shooting.
He said this year’s experience was much better without pandemic restrictions.
“We were pretty much quarantined to the village (in Tokyo), and we’d go from there to the shooting range on a bus,” Mein said. “And that was all that we got to see — and didn’t have any spectators, so no family or anything. This time I got to share everything with my family, which was great.”
This year, Mein’s wife, daughter, mother, father and brother all traveled to watch him compete.
Mein said the fact the 2028 Olympics are set to take place in Los Angeles will make it possible for more friends and family to attend.
Also, it presents an opportunity to finally nab an Olympic medal.
“I was kind of planning on pursuing the ’28 L.A. Games anyway, but getting as close as I did to a medal just really solidified that,” he said. “It makes me really want to push hard the next four years to make that team and hopefully bring home a medal.”
To younger competitors with a passion for trap shooting, Mein said “have fun, enjoy the journey. You’re going to get out of it what you put into it, so if you work hard at it and put in a genuine effort, anything is possible.”
