On August 20th, they all qualified for the women’s Skeet final at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Porpetto (ITA), pocketing the Gold medal along with a 4th and a 6th place. Now, less than three weeks later, the stellar United States' trio of Katharina Monika Jacob, Austen Jewell Smith and Samantha Simonton swept the Skeet Women Junior podium at the ISSF World Championship Shotgun in Moscow (RUS).
“It feels absolutely amazing! It was great to have Austen and Sammy on the podium with me,” said Gold medalist Jacob after the award ceremony. “I was actually more excited for us sweeping the podium than for winning the championship!”
18-year-old Jacob, the most experienced among the three with an ISSF World Cup Bronze already in her showcase, climbed atop the podium at the end of an extremely balanced match, finishing with 48 hits and also setting a new Junior World Record.
“This is my most important achievement so far, no doubt. Now I’ll focus on the United States’ selection matches and start thinking about the next season,” she concluded.
16-year-old Austen Jewell Smith, the youngest among the six finalists, surrendered to Jacob only in the final phase of the match, as she missed four of her last ten clays and sealed her World Championship Silver with 44 hits. The third American finalist, Samantha Simonton (17), took Bronze and completed the all-USA podium with 37 hits out of 50 targets.
At the feet of the podium, Australia’s Aislin Jones barely missed the medals: the 17-year-old from Lakes Entrance, Victoria, left the contest because of a lower qualification ranking against Simonton’s one, as they both had 29 hits after 40 clays.
Jones was followed by first-time participant Vanesa Hockova (17) of Slovakia, who crushed 19 of 30 targets and finished in 5th position, while 20-year-old Hana Adamkova of the Czech Republic was the first shooter eliminated from the match, as she hit 9 clays out of 20 and took 6th place.
The team Gold medal was also won by the United States’, as Jacob, Simonton and Smith set a new Junior World Record with 211 points; the Czech Republic followed in 2nd place with the score of 193, signed by Adamkova, Anna Sindelarova and Zuzana Zaoralova; while Germany took Bronze with Eva-Tamara Reichert, Maria Kalix and Valentina Umhoefer, who scored 191.
The ISSF World Championship Shotgun in Moscow (RUS) will continue tomorrow with two more finals: the Skeet Men Junior one, scheduled at 5:00 pm (UTC+3:00), and the Skeet Men one, taking place at 6:00 pm. Both of them will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel, on its official Facebook page and on the Olympic Channel.
Live results of the competitions, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.