America’s Shooting Team made it four medals in three events Wednesday at the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Changwon, South Korea, when Ashley Carroll earned a bronze medal in Women’s Trap. That prime position on the podium was made all that much sweeter knowing it earned Team USA the all-important Olympic quota.
Carroll (Solvang, California) missed just one target in her last 75 during Qualification to advance as the second-best qualifier with a score of 119/125. Carroll secured the Olympic quota before Finals even began knowing two quotas were available and with four of the five other Finalists having secured quotas for their country in previous matches.
Once in the Final, Carroll missed four targets out of 40 but was able to earn that podium position with 19-consecutive hits. It is her third career World Cup medal earned and first away from Mexico following a 2017 win in Guadalajara and a 2018 victory in Acapulco.
“I am truly excited that there was another quota won today where there can be two American women representing Team USA at the Olympics,” Carroll said. “This match definitely was not the easiest and the beginning of the match was not where I wanted to be. However, I figured out something during a round which made me focus harder on having to trust myself. It worked great the rest of my rounds and in the Final, once I figured out where I needed to be with my eyes. That’s when the trust came back to help me battle all the way to third place.”
Competing in Changwon at World Championships last year she finished 14th with a 32nd-place result at the World Cup event here as well.
An Olympic quota is essentially a country’s ticket to participate in a specific event in the 2020 Olympic Games. Earning an Olympic quota in competition ensures the country a spot in that particular event, not necessarily the athlete.
The quota means the U.S. Shotgun Team will send more athletes to Tokyo 2020 than it did for Rio 2016. Corey Cogdell-Unrein (Eagle River, Alaska) was the lone U.S. trap competitor. Kayle Browning (Wooster, Arkansas) secured Team USA’s first quota in the event by winning at the 2018 Championship of the Americas. Carroll just missed an opportunity at that event after being the top qualifier and finishing with the bronze medal, where a top-two placement was needed.
China’s Weiyun Deng earned the victory with her teammate Xiaojing Wang taking second. It is the first World Cup Gold medal for Weiyun while Wang managed the highest Qualification score of 121. The second Olympic quota went to France’s Melanie Couzy, who finished the competition in sixth.
U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) soldier athlete Rachel Tozier (Liberty, Missouri) finished 17th with a 113. Alicia Gough (Burlington, Wisconsin) was 45th with a 108. They were each making their World cup debuts after finishing third and fifth at the USA Shooting Spring Selection Match earlier this year.
The U.S. men’s trap contingent of Derek Haldeman (USAMU/Sunbury, Ohio), Glenn Eller (USAMU/Katy, Texas) and Brian Burrows (Fallbrook, California) got off to a great start as well Wednesday as each record 48/50 on Day 1 of Qualification. The problem lies in the fact that 16 others shot 49 or better. That competition concludes Friday followed by a Mixed Team Trap event Saturday to wrap-up business in Changwon.
Earlier in the competition, Kim Rhode (El Monte, California) and Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Georgia) earned victories in skeet while 21-year-old Christian Elliott (USAMU/Greenwood, Indiana) earned the first Word Cup medal of his career with silver in Men’s Skeet.
WORLD CUP RESULTS: http://bit.ly/2DNq6B9
WOMEN’S TRAP FINAL VIDEO – https://www.facebook.com/ISSF.Shooting/videos/451821715385805/
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