A hectic year of ISSF competition in 2023 saw shooters involved in two Grands Prix, 13 World Cups, the Junior World Championships in Changwon, the 53rd World Championships in Baku and the last hoorah of the World Cup Final in Doha. Athletes across all disciplines produced outstanding performances that augured well for 2024, where the Paris Olympics and Paralympics shimmer on the horizon.
Danka Bartekova of Slovakia claimed her first global title at the age of 38 as won the women’s skeet event at the ISSF World Championships in Baku. But the moment for which she had been working during her entire career only arrived after a nerve-wracking shoot-off.
Bartekova, who won bronze at the London 2012 Olympics and was appointed last year as a full International Olympic Committee member having served on the IOC Athletes’ Commission for the best part of a decade, secured gold by an 11-10 margin after she and Dania Jo Vizzi of the United States had totalled 54.
The Slovakian’s triumph on a day of glorious sunlight in the Azerbaijan capital also secured a Paris 2024 quota place for her country.
“It took me 25 years to get this title, it was very emotional because I was missing this medal and I am extremely happy I did it today,” Bartekova said.
“It means a lot, I have waited a long time and it is one of the highlights of my career.
“The final was extremely difficult because of the breeze, so it took me some time to read the speed and trajectory.
“I am very proud of myself that I handled the pressure of the shoot off with Dania, she’s an excellent shooter.
“There was not a weak shooter in the final so it was extremely difficult.”
Emmanouela Katzouraki of Greece took bronze and with it an Olympic quota place after scoring 43.
The World Cup Final in Doha that concluded the season saw Kazakhstan’s Assem Orynbay win gold in the women’s skeet after a final that took place at the world-class Lusail Sports Arena in challenging conditions of heat and a blustery wind.
Orynbay dominated from the start before holding off the late challenge of Italy’s Chiara Di Marziantonio by one shot to win 51-50.
The 30-year-old world No.7 from Yntymak, who had won gold at the previous year’s Asian Championships, was hoisted jubilantly into the air by her coach at the end of the competition.
Three-times Olympic champion and six-times Olympian Kimberly Rhode of the United States narrowly missed adding another medal to her vast collection at the age of 44, recovering from an uncertain start to miss out on reaching the medal stages only through her qualifying bib number.
But bronze was claimed by her United States team-mate Vizzi.
Orynbay had reached the podium only once in the six World Cups in 2023 featuring shotguns – but the result was ideal as she took gold in her home edition in Almaty.
Rhode had won the first two World Cups, at Rabat and Doha.
Bartekova won the next edition, in Larnaca, and Vizzi won the final World Cup of the season in Larnaca.
The other World Cup, in Cairo, saw victory by China’s Jiang Yiting.
