Overnight, Australian Rifle Athlete and three-time Olympian Jack Rossiter, finished 6th in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle event at the Buenos Aires, Argentina World Cup.
In his first World Cup of the season and competing in a field of 49 Competitors, Rossiter finished qualification in third place after shooting a score of 633.4.
Commenting on his qualification performance, Rossiter explained, “It was exactly what I had wanted. I was a little bit nervous, so I wasn’t looking at the score as much, but I could tell that things were going well.”
“I really tried to carry that momentum forward as much as I could, and I got a good result in the end, which felt great.”
Progressing to the final, that was also held on the qualification range, Rossiter detailed the difficult conditions, explaining “It was insanely loud. The Argentinian crowd was going nuts every time their athlete shot, which made it quite difficult.”
“As a slower shooter that made it really hard, I tried to speed it up, but it kind of threw off my rhythm a little bit, which made it a bit tricky to shoot.”
Local Argentinian athlete, Marcello Gutierrez, won the bronze medal with India’s Rudrankksh Patil winning gold, followed by Hungary’s Istvan Peni with silver.
Of the eight athletes to reach the event finals, the oldest was only 28 years of age. Being 27 himself, Rossiter, reflected on this, explaining, “Everyone is getting younger and younger, but I still feel like I’m getting better, so it doesn’t affect me much.”
“The competition is young, and it looks like it’s going to stay that way. You can really see that next generation, but there are still experienced competitors doing really well.”
Following the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Rossiter, made the decision to relocate to Norway to be closer to his partner and to build on his training, through access to more competition.
Rossiter highlighted “It’s been a great situation. We’re living about 300 metres from the shooting range. It’s allowed me to train a lot and lots of that has been with the Norwegian team, and they are excellent training partners.”
“I feel like I have improved a lot while I’ve been in Norway, and I think these competitions are showing that. I think all in all, I have grown a lot in the last nine months, so I’m happy with the change.”
The Argentinian World Cup is one of two back-to-back World Cups that Rossiter will compete in this month, with the ISSF World Cup in Peru scheduled to begin on the 13th of April.
Looking ahead, Rossiter is focussed on preparing for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, explaining, “LA is on the radar. I’m going to keep pushing as hard as I can with training and competitions.”
“I’m not going to wait around until its two years before the games, I want to get after it now. I really want to make sure I’m ready.” Competition in Buenos Aires continues today with seven Australian Shotgun athletes commencing qualification in the Men’s and Women’s trap events.
