COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (October 13, 2019)
Caitlin Connor and Australia’s Luke Peter Argiro on the top step of the podium
The International Shooting Sports Federation World Cup Shotgun Final came to a close Sunday in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates with the President’s Trophy mixed team events. The unique format, contested for the first time, partnered a male and female shooter from different countries in a friendly competition to close out the ISSF international shotgun calendar for 2019.
Team USA athletes picked up three medals in Sunday’s event. In the mixed team skeet event, Caitlin Connor (Winnfield, La.) teamed with Australia’s Luke Peter Argiro to win the gold medal, while Christian Elliott (Greenwood, Ind.) and Chile’s Francisca Crovetto Chadid won a sudden-death victory over Kim Rhode (Monrovia, Calif.) and Czech Republic’s Jakob Tomecek to claim the bronze medal.
"First of all, God has blessed me with this opportunity to do what I love so all of my thanks go to Him,” said Elliott. “It was a rough qualification, certainly not the one we were looking for. However, Vincent Hancock offered some advice to me following the first day of the qualification portion and I immediately fell back into the normal groove I’ve been in for this past year. A day late on my end but nevertheless we had fixed our problem. The mixed team format offered an experience I’ll cherish forever, getting to shoot as a team with a foreign nation was one I’ll never forget. A beautiful mixed team qualification score between my teammate and I landed us in the bronze medal match. A tough fight, but we came out on top. Thankful to USA Shooting for the support.”
Aeriel Skinner (Jackson, Calif.) won her second medal of the weekend in the mixed team trap event. Competing in her first World Cup Final, Skinner teamed with Croatia’s Josip Glasnovic to win bronze. Skinner and Glasnovic defeated the team of Ashley Carroll (Solvang, Calif.) and Great Britain’s Matthew John Coward-Holley in the bronze medal mixed team final.
Full results can be found HERE.
Bronze medalists in the mixed team skeet, Christian Elliott and Chile’s Francisca Crovetto Chadid
Aeriel Skinner and Croatia’s Josip Glasnovic won bronze in the mixed team trap event