Competition has now concluded at the ISSF World Cup in Peru, marking the end of a very successful South American campaign for our Australian athletes. Over the course of the last month, 8 Australian athletes have competed in back-to-back ISSF World Cups in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Lima, Peru.
The team, which consisted of one rifle athlete and 7 shotgun athletes, achieved outstanding results across both World Cup events, including two gold medals, one silver medal and seven finals appearances.
Across both events, Penny Smith won three medals including, an individual gold medal in the Women’s Trap competition in Buenos Aires and two Mixed Trap Medals, with her teammate Mitch Iles. Smith and Iles took home silver in the Mixed Trap event at the Buenos Aires World Cup, before winning Gold in the same event just two weeks later, at the Lima World Cup.
Iles also made an individual finals appearance in Buenos Aires, in the Men’s Trap Competition, where he finished 6th. Commenting on his performance across the South American World Cups, Iles highlighted. “I was very happy with my performance in qualification in Buenos Aires and made the final and shot off for bib number 1. I did not start off too well in the final and then could not make up for it, but I was really happy to shoot a good qualification score.”
“In Lima, I didn’t do great in the individual event but was happier with my performance in the mixed team event with Penny Smith and was really pleased we came away with the gold medal.”
Kiara Dean also had a finals appearance, making her senior World Cup finals debut in Peru, where she finished in 6th in the Women’s Trap Competition.
Reflecting on the success of the Shotgun team, Shotgun Performance Coach, Renae Birgan and South American Shotgun Assistant Coach, Tom Turner, explained, “We are extremely proud of this team and their results over the two South American World Cups. The comradery and support within the team has been the backbone of their success. We’ve had medallists, finalists, personal bests and performance growth within the team. It’s been an outstanding start to the season and the Australian team continues to push the bar forward.”
Australian rifle athlete, Jack Rossiter, also made a finals appearance at the Buenos Aires World Cup, where he qualified third in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle competition after shooting a score of 633.4. Rossiter finished 6th in the finals. Commenting on his performance across both competitions, Rossiter highlighted, “I’m happy with the two world cups this month. I performed on a pretty consistent level being close to making the finals in two events and making one final in Argentina. I think that having the high-level back-to-back competitions has definitely helped to kickstart the season.”
Highlighting what’s next for him, Rossiter explained, “I’m flying back home to Norway now where I will have some small competitions as well as some training over the next couple of weeks. Then in early May I will be flying to Pilsen in Czech Republic for a competition and then hopefully onto a World Cup in Munich, Germany in June.”
View the full South American World Cup event results here: https://shootingaustralia.org/resource-category/results/
Read more about the South American World Cups here: https://shootingaustralia.org/news/
