Shooting Australia has today announced a 14 person team who will compete at the 2023 ISSF World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in pistol, rifle and shotgun events.
Following their medal winning performances at ISSF World Cups this year, Penny Smith (Shotgun Women’s Trap and World Ranked 1), James Willett (Shotgun Men’s Trap and World Ranked 2), Catherine Skinner (Shotgun Women’s Trap) and Sergei Evglevski (25m Rapid Fire Pistol) were the first athletes selected to the 2023 World Championships team. As a finalist at the Cairo World Cup in May, this also qualified Nathan Argiro for his position on the team. The additional 9 team members (Laetisha Scanlan, Mitchell Iles, Aislin Jones, Joshua Bell, Elena Galiabovitch, Bailey Groves, Dane Sampson, Jack Rossiter and Elise Collier) secured their positions based on where they placed on a performance leaderboard after a four competition domestic selection series of events that concluded earlier this month and in addition to also meeting the minimum performance standards outlined in the World Championships team selection criteria.
As the athletes prepare to contest the most significant competition in 2023, and a crucial competitive opportunity against the worlds best in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Shooting Australia’s High Performance Manager Kathryn Periac says “Our goal is to support our World Championships team to enable strong performances by each of the athletes at this event, which will in turn support critical Paris Olympic qualification requirements such as winning quota places and securing individual qualifying ranking points for the Olympic Games (QROG’s.).
Our athletes have developed and prioritised team values and behaviours to create the environment they want to be part of, and in which they can excel, and we will be working with them to deliver an experience that is successful and positive for everyone.”
This Australian World Championships team brings together those who have had multiple World Championship appearances and medal wins with those who are making their World Championship debuts. Periac says “2016 Rio Olympic Gold medallist Catherine Skinner has been part of 5 senior World Championships teams since 2011, securing an individual silver and bronze medal, and during the 2022 World Championships in Croatia finished 4th in the Women’s Trap event, securing the first Paris Olympic quota for Australia. Catherine will join 10 other Olympians (Rio and Tokyo) on this year’s Australian Team.”
Of the two athletes making their World Championships debut, Periac says “It is particularly exciting to see several athletes step up their performances to meet the criteria for selection to their first World Championships team, including Joshua Bell who has competed well in World Cups this year, and Bailey Groves. With the Paris 2024 Olympics just over a year away, the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria and the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, there are many wonderful and exciting opportunities ahead for our sport and for our athletes.”
Shooting a personal best in the last selection event Bailey Groves said “I didn’t realise until after the competition in Brisbane that I had qualified for World Champs. That moment I got the news was simply unreal”.
The official arrival day for the 2023 World Championships is 14th August with competition scheduled to commence on 17th August.
The nomination criteria for Paris 2024 will be released following the World Championships.
