Kentucky’s Mary Tucker has added another accolade to her growing list of achievements.

The already Olympic-bound Wildcat qualified in women’s smallbore on Wednesday in Ft. Benning, Georgia after finishing third in the finals, though her total score from her qualifying matches in 2019 and this week’s scores clinched her spot in Tokyo. Tucker previously qualified for U.S.A’s Olympic Air Rifle team in the Spring of 2020 along with fellow Wildcat Will Shaner. 

With this accomplishment, Tucker has become the first member of Kentucky’s rifle team to qualify for the Olympics in both disciplines. 

Tucker has had the year of a lifetime since the 2020-21 season began. Not only did she lead her team to their third NCAA Championship back in March, but she also became the first Wildcat to win national player of the year honors and win a NCAA Championship in the same season since Anthony Davis achieved the feat in basketball back in 2011-12. 

In that NCAA Championship victory, Kentucky posted an NCAA record for highest overall team score in the modern rifle championship format where Tucker won individual gold in smallbore as well as air rifle, the first Wildcat to do so as well.

She capped off her sophomore season with three top honors from the CRCA as an aggregate, smallbore and air rifle first-team All-America honoree, becoming an All-American for the second year in a row. 

Tucker averaged 592.417 in smallbore and 597.75 in air rifle this season for an average of 1190.167. Tucker had the highest individual smallbore score in the nation this season of 597, while she was the only athlete in the nation to score 595 or higher in smallbore more than once. In air rifle, Tucker was one of three athletes to post a perfect 600. Overall, Tucker scored a 1195 aggregate twice this season, the highest combined score in the nation.

Afterward, Tucker would take home the International Shooting Sport Federation Women’s Air Rifle 10m Gold Medal in April and won gold in smallbore and fifth at air rifle at the USA Shooting Junior Olympic Championships in Colorado Springs, Colorado, earlier this month.

Olympic action begins Fri, July 23 in Tokyo until Sun, Aug. 8 as Tucker and Shaner look to bring gold back to Lexington.