AISLIN Jones took out the NSW Women’s ISSF Skeet State Title in Sydney, competing on March 22 and 23 in the first selection event for the World Championships, scheduled for Athens, Greece this October.
Prior to the selection event, Aislin competed in Melbourne as a warm up and training run and commented that while she didn’t shoot particularly well there, by Friday before the competition she felt confident.
“I felt good in training on the Friday and I knew what I had to execute to do what I needed to do,” said Aislin.
Shooting conditions started off well enough with blue skies and sunshine, but by the final shoot, rain was bucketing down, making a challenging finish.
Despite this, Aislin managed to pull out a top score of 117/125.
Unlike the Olympics, more than one Australian shooter can qualify for the ISSF World Championship Shotgun, so Aislin said while she will be competing against other Australians in the lead up, her preparation for the event will involve comparing scores to international competitors and training accordingly.
“Training will be focused on doing more competition pressure drills and working on shot control – my timing when I’m shooting pairs,” explained Aislin.
“The reason why I’m approaching my training with high-pressure drills and the like is to bring more of that element to training so that it becomes more normal for competition.”
The second selection event will be held in Brisbane in mid-June and the third and final selection event will be in Melbourne in August.
Between these titles and in additional preparation for the World Championships, Aislin will head to Lonato del Garda, Italy in July to compete in the ISSF World Cup Shotgun.
“It’s my favourite place in the world to travel to for shooting. It’s pretty cool that pretty much every year they have a World Cup there,” said Aislin.
“They’ll be sending – I haven’t made that team yet – the people who are ranked highest for World Champs’ team selection, the top performers from the selection series, pre-empting that they’re likely to be on the World Championships team.”
Amongst training and competing, Aislin also juggles full time work as an estimator for Wood Street Windows in Bairnsdale while completing a commerce degree with a major in financial planning.
To manage all of this, Aislin commented that her competing and training schedule has reduced in volume since last year, so it is now a bit more sustainable.
Aislin also organises all the fundraising and sponsorship opportunities she can, so she can continue to compete at elite levels both nationally and internationally.
