CHANGWON, South Korea (September 8, 2018)
The Junior stars of the USA Shooting Team shined today on the Shotgun field and the Pistol range at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship in Changwon, South Korea.
Winning silver today in 25m Junior Women’s Sport Pistol was Katelyn Abeln (Douglasville, Georgia). Abeln entered the Final with a score of 576, the fifth-highest score in Qualification. Qualifying for the Final as well in the top position was Sarah Choe (Los Angeles, California), who finished the match with a score of 582 – a score that would have put her just two points out of a potential Finals berth in the Open (Adult) 25m Women’s Sport Pistol competition at this year’s World Championship.
Once in the Final, Abeln jumped to the front of the pack early, sharing the lead with eventual gold medalist Xiaoyu Wang of China. After the first six series, Wang and Abeln were tied with 18 hits, but Wang would pull away with three perfect, five-shot series to secure the gold with 37 hits. Abeln fought through two shootoff series with eventual bronze medalist Anna Dedova of the Czech Republic to win the silver medal with 27 hits. Choe was eliminated in sixth place with 11 hits.
“I wasn’t expecting this!” said Abeln. “I didn’t have any expectations. I haven’t had bad competitions, but not what I’ve wanted over the past couple months. Going into Sport Pistol, I was just here to finish it – I go home tomorrow – and I just thought ‘Hey, it’s the home stretch.’ Didn’t expect to make Finals at all after Stage One, but got into Stage Two and just gave it all I had. I just tried to finish strong and I did!”
Abeln’s
