In the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Chiara Leone was no certainty to make the Swiss team. By the time shooting wrapped up in Chateauroux, she was an Olympic gold medallist.
It sent the 26-year-old into an off-season of the unknown, becoming a recognised sportsperson in her native Switzerland as the only athlete to stand at the top of the podium at last year’s Games.
“There has been a lot going on,” said Leone.
While the intense media coverage was expected in the days following her victory in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions final, she decided to switch gears and get away after an intense season prior to the Games.
“Last year, every competition was under very high pressure because I had to do well in every competition to eventually qualify for the Olympics,” she added.
Perhaps the perfect sporting detox is a six-week trip to South America – her treat to herself after Paris. She spent her time in Ecuador and Colombia where she practised her Spanish, explored the jungles on treks and learned how to surf; before coming back to compete at the 2024 ISSF World Cup Final.
Straight after New Delhi, she focused back on training and competing, with and is set to embark on another multi-week South American trip; albeit this time for business, not pleasure. Leone will be in contention for the medals and perhaps her first individual title at the ISSF World Cup season opener in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From there, she plans to compete in the second of the double-header in Lima, Peru.
However, preparations are different heading into the 2025 season. With Leone’s success came media opportunities and events where she was honoured – including finishing third in the Sportswoman of the Year category at the Swiss Sports Awards behind prestigious Alpine skier Lara Gut-Behrami and European pole vault champion Angelica Moser. Leone saw this as a remarkable achievement due to the popularity of both of these sports in her home nation – with the award decided by a jury and a public vote, adding it was “quite a big thing to get there as a shooter”.
“It’s basically a new life since the Olympics with all of the other things that have been going on,” said Leone.
“I had to get used to a new training routine with a little bit less hours, but still enough to be prepared for the season. It's still difficult to give a grade of how good it was, because of course the circumstances are different than a year ago.”
She said she now knows she can “compete with the best of the world” and last year was about “becoming one of them or to get one of them”. While last year came with less certainty over her position on the national team and less financial support, it also allowed the relative unknown to train longer. Now Leone has to train smarter and not necessarily harder.
With less spare time due to these other commitments, she has had to focused on quality nearer to competitions, meaning less time on the shooting range and less focus on repetitive training; and more centred towards higher intensity. Aside from that, more work was done with her sports psychologist to help her accept the fact she had less hours to prepare, but could still perform well.
“Because I know how to shoot high scores, that’s still in me,” Leone added. "And that’s one thing you don’t forget. So it's just all about how can I figure this out in competition day and about maximising that and less hours on the range.”
She admits it was “a little tough to get back into competition mode” in the early stages of 2025 – where she competed at the European Championship 10m and H&N Cup – saying she hopes to be sharp in time for Buenos Aires. But even if everything does not go to plan, the key goal is at the end of the season.
“We discussed with my coach to just take the start of the season to get back into competition rhythm and see how things go, because obviously the main goal is going to be the World Championships in November,” said Leone. "So we still have a lot of time to train before that. I think the start is just to see how things work.
"We've done some changes in my shooting just to be prepared for the next competitions and as a shooter, I think you will always find something to improve.”
Improvement is pivotal in this squad. She was one of three contenders for two spots at the Olympic Games, and was selected for the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions event alongside the defending Olympic champion Nina Christen. The other threat came from teenager Emely Jaeggi, who missed out, but is considered a future star for the national team.
“We really developed good training structures in Switzerland and over the last maybe 10 years, we basically train all together at the same place,” she said. "We always have different training groups, but we're all located at the same shooting range.
“We often train together, so you always see how the others are doing in training and small training competitions. If I see my teammates are doing good scores, I'm even more motivated to put in more effort to get better because I know I have to be better than them to qualify for competitions. That's probably one reason why we developed such a high level in the women's field. The training we're doing is working, so at some point, it has to be successful as well for me.”
While the Swiss athlete stresses the randomness of the sport and says it is “difficult” to define what a successful season would be, but said she would be satisfied with being “happy with my shooting”.
Leone will be visiting Argentina and Chile for the first time, saying she is excited for “new shooting ranges, new cultures and new countries” and the prospect of a win alongside her Swiss teammates in South America.
“It's possible, but shooting is very unpredictable.
“You never know what's happening.
“If we can get into competition mode and do well, it's possible.”
The challenge on the range will be tough, and in her downtime over the next few weeks, she will be hoping speaking with the locals in Spanish will be a little bit easier than the competition.