Ashley Carroll (L) and Derek Haldeman celebrate their bronze medal in mixed team trap at the ISSF World Championship for Shotgun on Sept. 4, 2017 in Moscow.
The U.S. duo of Ashley Carroll and Derek Haldeman won the bronze medal in the trap mixed team event at the ISSF World Cup Final on Tuesday in New Delhi, giving Team USA its first medal of the weeklong event.
The pair also won the bronze medal in mixed trap in September at the world shotgun championships. The trap mixed team event will make its Olympic debut in 2020.
Antonio Bailon and Beatriz Martinez of Spain won the gold medal and Giovanni Pellielo and Jessica Rossi of Italy won silver in New Delhi. Carroll, 22, and Haldeman, 26, crushed 31 out of 40 targets to secure the third-place finish.
Haldeman and Carroll, who are also dating, were in fourth place after qualifying. This was the first time that they knew they’d be shooting together going into a competition. At the world championships, they were paired together because they were the two highest-scoring shooters in individual competition.
The U.S. has a total of 10 athletes competing at the invitation-only World Cup Final, which runs through Sunday and will conclude the international shooting season. They include new world champion Dania Vizzi, six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode and two-time Olympian Frank Thompson in skeet; and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Ginny Thrasher as the lone U.S. competitor in rifle.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.