Local shooting star Aislin Jones is going to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
After an strong performance at the ISSF Olympic Qualifying Championship in Doha a fortnight ago, Rio Olympian (2016) Jones has put in an outstanding performance at the ISSF World Cup in Baku (Azerbaijan) securing her nomination for the Australian Olympic team for Paris 2024 and in the process brought home a medal in mixed skeet teams.
Jones combined with Sydney’s Joshua Bell to win the bronze medal in the mixed skeet team shooting event at the ISSF World Cup 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The medal was Australia’s first-ever in a skeet team event at a World Cup and was certainly hard earned, defeating the high profile USA pair of Austen Jewell Smith, a four-time world champion, and Conner Lynn Prince, 42-41 in the bronze medal playoff.
The American pair was leading by a shot at the halfway stage but Jones and Bell registered a perfect eight in the fourth series to sneak ahead.
The Australian shooters, both competing in their first-ever senior World Cup final, held their nerve late and were rewarded for their efforts with the bronze.
The event was won by Chile’s Hector Andres Flores Barahona and Francisca Crovetto Chadid who defeated American pair, Dustan Taylor and Dania Jo Vizzi in the gold medal match, 45-42.
The Doha and Baku events concluded the Shooting Australia selection series which were used to choose the athlete nominated to the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) to represent the country in Paris in just a few months time.
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In the individual skeet event Jones finished with a score of 117/125 to set a new international personal best resulting in an eighth place finish.
Once added to the preceding five events of the series it cemented her place at the top of the Shooting Australia selection rankings for Olympic nomination.
Jones finished 25 targets clear of number two ranked Laura Coles (Western Australia) and 58 points in front of fellow Victorian, Brittany Melbourne.
Jones’ effort saw her just two targets short of the five athletes tied on 119 who entered a sudden death shoot off for the last four places in the six-woman final.
At the conclusion of the final the individual event was won by Jones’ friend Austen Smith from Team USA.
The two have been shooting events together since they started international competition as juniors, both making the final at the 2017 World Championships in Moscow.
Jones’ strong performances have also rocketed her up the ISSF World Ranking List where she now sits at 27th.
In addition to shooting the women’s skeet individual event at the Olympics, Jones will also compete in the mixed gender team event with Bell, hoping to turn a World Cup medal into an Olympic medal.
The magnitude of a ISSF medal has taken its time to sink in for Jones.
“It’s a little surreal, I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, it’s something that I’ve been chasing my whole life,” Jones said.
Life will get busy once she returns home this week, training regularly on skeet ranges the length of Gippsland chasing the challenging backgrounds they offer.
She will return to her alma mater, visiting Lakes Entrance Primary School students towards the end of May, while also heading to Melbourne to train with coach Lauryn Mark in Werribee or Lilydale.
Athletes nominated to the AOC for Paris will travel to Lonato in northern Italy for a training camp prior to competing in the ISSF World Cup there in June.
They will then return to Italy again in July to train and acclimatise to the time zone and a warm European summer before inserting into the Olympic environment around the purpose built $50 million Chateauroux Shooting Complex that will host the events for the 33rd Summer Oympiad.
Jones’ grew up in Lakes Entrance, attending Nagle College in Bairnsdale, competing at Rio while in year 10.
