Unlike most sports in the Olympic world, the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) holds its World Championships only once every four years, two years after the Olympic Games. That makes the 2018 edition a high-profile event on the road to Tokyo.
This year’s venue isn’t too far from the 2020 Games site, either, in Changwon (KOR), with more than 1,800 shooters from 90 countries are expected to gather for competitions beginning on Sunday (2nd) and continuing through 15 September. It’s also the start of the Olympic qualification cycle for Tokyo as 60 quota places – generally the top four in each event – will be assigned for the 2020 Games.
The senior-level events and finals schedule (with Olympic-event winners from 2014 and the current no. 1-ranked shooter per the ISSF World Rankings):
∙ 2 September:
Mixed Team 10 m Air Rifle
Mixed Team 10 m Air Pistol
∙ 3 September:
Men’s 10 m Air Rifle
○ 2014 winner: Haoran Yang (CHN)
○ 2018 no. 1: Istvan Peni (HUN
Women’s 10 m Air Rifle
○ 2014 winner: Petra Zublasing (ITA)
○ 2018 no. 1: Mingyang Wu (CHN)
Men’s Trap
○ 2014 winner: Daniele Resca (ITA)
○ 2018 no. 1: Aaron Heading (GBR)
∙ 4 September:
Women’s 10 m Air Pistol
○ 2014 winner: Jee-Hae Jung (KOR)
○ 2018 no. 1: Anna Korakaki (GRE)
∙ 6 September:
Men’s 10 m Air Pistol
○ 2014 winner: Jongoh Jin (KOR)
○ 2018 no. 1: Shahzar Rizvi (IND)
Women’s Trap
○ 2014 winner: Jessica Rossi (ITA)
○ 2018 no. 1: Satu Makela-Nummela (FIN)
∙ 7 September:
Men’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions
○ 2014 winner: Qinan Zhu (CHN)
○ 2018 no. 1: Istvan Peni (HUN)
Mixed Team Trap
∙ 8 September:
Women’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions
○ 2014 winner: Beate Gauss (GER)
○ 2018 no. 1: Snjezana Pejcic (CRO)
Women’s 25 m Pistol
○ 2014 winner: Jingjing Zhang (CHN)
○ 2018 no. 1: Anna Korakaki (GRE)
∙ 9 September:
Women’s 10 m Running Target
Men’s 10 m Running Target
∙ 10 September:
Men’s 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol
○ 2014 winner: Jun-Hong Kim (KOR)
○ 2018 no. 1: Junmin Lin (CHN)
∙ 11 September:
Women’s Skeet
○ 2014 winner: Dania Jo Vizzi (USA)
○ 2018 no. 1: Kim Rhode (USA)
∙ 14 September:
Men’s Skeet
○ 2014 winner: Gabriele Rossetti (ITA)
○ 2018 no. 1: Vince Hancock (USA)
The U.S. has a strong squad in Korea for the 52nd ISSF Worlds, led by the amazing Rhode, winner of six Olympic medals in six different Games, beginning in 1996. Hancock, himself a two-time Olympic gold medalist, won three of the four ISSF World Cups this year in Skeet, as did Rhode. Ashley Carroll won one World Cup in women’s Trap.
In the senior division, China was the biggest medal winner in 2014, taking 27 (13-11-3) to Russia’s 20 (5-7-8) and 15 for Germany (9-4-2). The U.S. collected eight medals (2-3-3) and finished tied for eighth in the overall medal count.
