RIO 2016 Olympic champion trap shooter and Mansfield local Catherine Skinner is one of 10 athletes selected for the Australian shooting team at the Paris 2024 Olympics by the Australian Olympic Committee last Thursday.
The Australian shooters were selected for the Paris 2024 team based on their performances in international and domestic competitions over the past six months.
After missing the Tokyo Olympics due to a loss in selection trials, Skinner is set to compete in her second games.
And she will enter it with momentum, having secured a bronze medal at the Lonato Shotgun World Cup earlier this month.
Catherine became Australia’s fifth Olympic shooting gold medallist when she took out the women’s trap event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
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She only just scraped through to the semi-finals, winning a shoot-off to make the final six and give herself a chance at a medal.
From there she shot 14 out of 15 targets to move through to the gold medal match against New Zealand’s Natalie Rooney.
Catherine kept her composure shooting 12 of 15 targets in the final to beat Rooney by one target and join Suzy Balogh as Australia’s only female Olympic shooting gold medallists.
She has won three bronze and two silver medals at world championships and competed at the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow in 2014 and on the Gold Coast in 2018.
Facing constant competition from a strong field of Australian trap shooters, Catherine has had to work hard to maintain her place in the team.
“You’ve got to recognise that we as Australia are very fortunate with the strength of our women’s trap field,” she said.
Catherine claimed Australia’s first Paris 2024 quota for shooting at the ISSF World Championships in Osijek, Croatia, in 2022.
She scored 118 from 125 in qualification, shooting a further three targets in a shoot-off to place fourth and qualify for the semi-finals.
In the semis she scored 21 from 25 to qualify for the medal match, and nail down the quota, before going on to finish fourth.
Catherine maintained her good form through 2023, holding down a place in the world top 10.
After strong performances in Olympic nomination events in 2024, Catherine finished second on the Shooting Australia leaderboard for selection nomination with a total of 708 points.
Shooting at the Paris 2024 Olympics will be held from July 27 to August 5 at the Châteauroux Shooting Centre.
