Half of Team USA’s shotgun trap shooters are from the Kansas City area. So what is it about Missouri and Kansas that makes for such good Olympic shooters? Plus: A Missouri professor is the first woman to join the American wheelchair rugby team at the Paralympic Games.

Four trap shooters, total, will go to the Paris Summer Olympics for Team USA: two women and two men. Turns out this year, half of those athletes are from the Kansas City region. For KCUR, Greg Echlin reports on two of the world’s best competitive shotgun shooters. (And a warning: This story includes the sounds of gunshots.)

During the school year, Sarah Adam is an assistant professor of occupational therapy at St. Louis University. But this summer, she’s turning her studies toward Paris, and the 2024 Paralympics. St. Louis Public Radio’s Abby Llorico spoke with the first woman to make the wheelchair rugby team about what it means for her and her sport.

Contact the show at [email protected]. Follow KCUR on Instagram and Facebook for the latest news.

Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love, Celia Morton and KCUR Studios, and edited by Gabe Rosenberg, Madeline Fox and Lisa Rodriguez.

You can support Kansas City Today by becoming a KCUR member: kcur.org/donate.