Aeriel Skinner competes in the women's trap final at the ISSF World Cup on March 5, 2018 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Neither Aeriel Skinner nor Mick Wertz have much international shooting experience to speak of, but that didn’t matter on Wednesday as the duo earned the bronze medal in trap mixed team at the world cup event in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Wertz, 18, from Muncy, Pennsylvania, is competing in an international event for the first time ever. On Tuesday he just missed the final in men’s trap and finished in 10th place.
Skinner is competing in just her second world cup, and on Monday won the bronze medal in the women’s trap event after setting a qualification world record of 119 of 125 targets. It was the first international competition in which women shot the same number of targets as the men, previously shooting 75.
On Wednesday, the duo was sixth in qualifying to make it into the mixed trap final. San Marino and Italy 1 were eliminated first, then China 1. Only the U.S., Finland and China 2 remained, with the U.S. and China tied with 29 hits behind Finland with 31. The U.S. then fell one behind China and finished with 33. Finland took gold and China the silver.
Mixed trap will make its Olympic debut in 2020.
More than 400 athletes are competing in 15 medal events in Guadalajara through March 12. Thursday’s competition includes the finals in women’s 50-meter rifle three positions and men’s 25-meter rapid fire pistol.
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.