SHOOTING: 24-year-old chemical engineering student Catherine Skinner (East Melbourne, VIC) claimed a bronze medal in Women’s Trap at the 51st International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship in Granada, Spain. Just 24 hours later, Victorian teammate Emma Cox won a silver medal in the women's double trap- a non-Olympic event. Scroll down to read about Cox.
Amidst a tightly contested quality field of 76 internationally acclaimed shooters, including World Champions and Olympic and Commonwealth title holders, Skinner held her nerve to shoot a strong 72/75 targets in the Qualification Round.
She then duelled with three other competitors who were on equal 72, in a nail-biting shoot-off for a spot in the six-person Semi Final, at which stage she shot-off again to edge out Italy’s highly decorated Deborah Gelisio, qualifying for a well-earned spot in the bronze medal match.
Skinner proved too strong for Germany’s Jana Beckmann, 31, winning the bronze by 13 to ten targets.
The Women’s Trap title went to Germany’s Katrin Quoos, while home country shooter Fatima Galvez took the silver.
Skinner’s bronze also qualified another Rio 2016 Olympic Games quota place for the Australian Shooting team, the second in as many days, with the first quota won by new world champion Warren Potent (Currans Hill, NSW) in 50m Rifle Prone.
When asked what the feeling was like when she had secured the medal, Skinner expressed her disbelief.
“I cannot believe that I have won a medal at the World Championship. For me, this is an unbelievable victory, one that I will hold on to forever.”
“I tried to stay calm but it was hard when faced with such experienced competitors. This is one of the best days of my life!” an excited Skinner said.
National High Performance Shotgun Coach Valeriy Timokhin had nothing but praise for Skinner who showed the world her strength in a high-stress competition involving dead-eye accuracy.
“Catherine has come through a very tough match, and positioned herself within the top three shooters of the world. That is an outstanding achievement for Catherine, showing the depth of her perseverance and commitment to shooting.
“Her match was solid from the start, she didn’t let go of her goal. A proud moment in her career and we are very happy for her,” Timokhin added with pride.
Social media was buzzing with updates from the shotgun range, when Shooting Australia CEO Damien Marangon tweeted, “Catherine Skinner shooting brilliantly. In front in Bronze medal match.”
Moments later Marangon tweeted again, this time announcing her victory boldly, “Bronze medal for Catherine Skinner at World Champs… and Quota Place for Rio.”
Skinner was awarded Shooting Australia’s Female Athlete of the Year award in 2013 for her outstanding achievements, including two World Cup silver medals and a World University Games gold.
Fellow Aussies Laetisha Scanlan (Berwick, VIC) and Teegan McCloy (Cardiff, NSW) finished their qualification round on 68 and 67 respectively; whilst Junior Women’s Trap shooter Penny Smith (Bookaar, VIC) showed great form, coming agonisingly close to a final’s berth, losing in a shoot-off.
UPDATE: Cox wins silver in non-Olympic double trap
Education student Emma Cox (Mooroopna, VIC) has stormed through the final moments of her double trap event to finish with a very respectable silver medal, overnight, at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship in Granada, Spain.
The 22-year-old La Trobe University student recorded strings of 24-22-26-25 to hit a total of 97 targets, forcing a sudden-death shoot-off against Great Britain’s Rachel Parish to determine second and third place.
Cox shot first and hit both targets, proving too strong for Parish, who missed a target in her double.
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