COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado  –Six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode ended the 2017 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) season with a gold medal and she picked up right where she left off when she won her 11th World Cup gold in Women’s Skeet today at the 2018 ISSF season-opening World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Rhode (El Monte, California) finished Qualification in first place, five targets ahead of her nearest competitor with 122/125 hits. Rhode’s teammate and friend Caitlin Connor also secured herself a spot in the Final with 115 hits, finishing Qualification in fourth place.

Once in the Final, Rhode would miss two targets at her first station, but ran 30 straight to eventually equal her own World Record of 56/60 hits. Connor (Winnfield, Louisiana) would finish with 52 hits to claim the silver medal. Amber Hill of Great Britain would win the bronze.

“I started out a little rough, then I kind of pulled it together, did that great final run and I’m just so happy that I walked away with the gold medal, especially with my teammates next to me on the podium,” Rhode told the ISSF.

“It was a rough match,” Connor said. “I just tried to stay focused on what I needed to do to break targets. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun taking the top two with my teammate Kim. She and I always crush it when we’re in Mexico!” In addition to today’s gold/silver finishes, Rhode and Connor have also won gold and silver together in Mexico at the World Cups in Acapulco in 2015 and 2017.

Haley Dunn (Eddyville, Iowa) finished in 14th place with 108 hits.

Also competing today in Women’s Sport Pistol, Nathalia Granados Gomez (East Northport, New York) finished in 19th place with a score of 564. Katelyn Abeln (Douglasville, Georgia) finished in 21st place just one point back with 563.

The Men’s Skeet competition also kicked off today with the first 50 targets. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Georgia) has only dropped one target with 49 hits. His two-time Olympic teammate Frank Thompson (Alliance, Nebraska) has 47 hits and Eli Christman(Hixson, Tennessee) has 45 hits. Athletes will see an additional 75 targets in Qualification tomorrow as well as Finals to close this World Cup.

More than 400 athletes from 50 countries are competing at this ISSF World Cup in 15 medal events. Complete results, schedule and start lists from the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara are available here: http://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue.ashx?cshipid=2390.

*Photo courtesy of ISSF

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