THE first of two international selection events that will determine which one of the final three women are nominated to represent Australia at the Paris Olympics later this year in Women’s Skeet concluded at Lusail Shooting Center in Doha, Qatar on Sunday April 28.
Leongatha’s Aislin Jones progressed to the international series as the leader of the Australian rankings by six points over Laura Coles from WA. After a solid performance against the world’s best women in the sport of ISSF Skeet at the conclusion of the event in Qatar, Jones now leads the rankings not only for Australia but also the Oceania Region and is 11 points ahead of Laura Coles of WA.
Aislin flew to Qatar a little over a week prior after a final training session at Korumburra Gun Club before departing. Last week she flew from Qatar to Baku for the next ISSF World Cup where the Australian selections conclude.
Shot over three days of 50, 50 and 25 targets the ISSF Olympic Qualification Championship in Doha was important to many nations other than Australia, being the last opportunity for many nations who still did not have an entry quota into the Paris 2024 Olympics to win their place. With just two quota places on offer and more than 50 athletes whose country had not yet secured an entry to Paris pressure and emotions were running high. Owing largely to the quota places on offer the entry numbers set a new record for a World Cup style event with 71 women entered from 35 countries.
The conditions were hotter than usually expected for Qatar in April and on the layout shade was a sought after location for the athletes from the Northern Hemisphere where they are still emerging from winter into autumn. The Australian and New Zealand competitors however looked fairly comfortable in the 30°-32° temperatures.
Aislin took the lead in the Oceania Contingent from the end of day one shooting 45/50 to NZ’s Chloe Tipple on 44/50 and gained an additional four points in the Australian Olympic Selection Rankings over Laura Coles from Western Australia. With a second round 25/25 at the end of day two and 100 targets into the final total of 125 Jones had risen to 17th on the leaderboard on 93/100.
Day three of the event started out hot early and the competition to see who would take the six finals berths was even hotter. With a cut off into the final at 119/125 not even a perfect round would afford a place in the final for Aislin, however with the main task of assuring a prime place into the final TeamAUS selection event in Baku, Azerbaijan next week her final round 22/25 was enough to lead the Australian Olympic selection by 11 points going into the last five rounds at the next ISSF World Cup.
Returning to Lakes Entrance on Monday night Aislin’s father Dave was very happy with her performance placing 27th overall on 115, “Aislin’s approach this event was about the event rather than the selections. Results are built one target at a time, one round at a time. This selection series has been a marathon compared to past Olympic Selection policies in Australia. They have never been run over so many targets or included international events, so this has really challenged the team.”
Jointly coaching Aislin together with Lauryn Mark, the team for the young Australian changed tack on day two of competition switching to a different approach. With Lauryn in Australia for this trip and
Dave as the coach on the range Dave says, “We have been working differently over the last year in training to the way we’d worked for many years before that. A lot of targeted score setting drills have been a part of what Lauryn has tasked Aislin with and it’s required a lot of development mentally. This isn’t a sport that you can focus on the outcome. You can set a goal, but you can’t focus on it.
That’s really hard. Most people when you set a number will focus on it and as they drop a target or two it gets harder as not being able to achieve it looks more likely. It builds pressure which makes achieving the goal even harder, so there’s a risk in doing so.”
“It’s been working though, and the standard of competition was exceptionally high. She needed a big second day to stay in the running for a finish in the top third of the field. Setting a different style of goal for the day was risky but we put a number on it and she rose to the challenge.”
“We knew how she responds to it in training and for sure a year ago it was a mental barrier, so it was risky but what she’s achieved mentally in training definitely came out here. She needed a perfect round in round four to achieve that goal and under that pressure she hit everything, and did it on the main range in front of the crowd and with the Olympic Rings on the bank in the background. It was impressive. We also learned a little about what doesn’t work in a competition environment with the goal setting on day three, so we go into the World Cup at Baku with a much better idea of what to set around her daily goals.”
The rankings taken over five events of 125 targets each, with additional points for finals placings in the Australian series now stand as follows. Jones’ father Dave is still circumspect about the end result. “It’s not over until it’s over in this sport. Eleven points is a great buffer, but I’ll be a lot happier once we know the result of the next World Cup in Baku as nothing is ever certain and she needs to keep fighting for this now.”
With ticket sales concluding mid-April decisions have already had to be made on speculation. Dave has secured tickets to Aislin’s competition days.
“We didn’t get to see her compete in Rio. Rio was horrendously expensive to get to and get accommodation, far worse than Paris. We’ve tentatively booked accommodation in Chateauroux which is where the event will take place about three hours south of Paris. It was worse than trying to get tickets to a popular concert. You’re trying to get tickets with the rest of the world for something you’re emotionally invested in. But over a couple of sales sessions we have managed to get enough tickets for us and we have enough that Aislin’s partner Jack (Stockdale) and his Mum can come and we probably have a ticket or two spare in case other relatives end up coming – we won’t have any trouble rehoming them to the Kiwis if Chloe gets nominated by NZ.”
Fundraising to support Aislin through time off work and train in continues at and all donations are genuinely helpful. You can join her support team by donating at tinyurl.com/AislinParis2024 Donations are tax deductible.
