Kim Rhode Does It Again, Wins Gold at ISSF World Cup Guadalajara

Legendary Olympic medalist and NRA Board Member Kim Rhode has done it again: during the penultimate event at the 2018 International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico, the athlete won the 11th Women’s Skeet gold medal of her shooting career.

After missing two targets at her first station, Rhode sealed the match with an impressive 30-hit streak, which equaled her own world record of 56 hits.

“I started out a little rough, then I kind of pulled it together, did that great final run and I’m just so happy that I walked away with the gold medal, especially with my teammates next to me on the podium,” Rhode said to the ISSF.

Rhode’s USA Shooting teammate and second finalist, Caitlin Connor, won the silver medal with 52 hits.

“It was a rough match, I just tried to stay focused on what I needed to do to break targets,” Connor said. “I learned a lot and had a lot of fun taking the top two with my teammate Kim.”

Rhode and Connor’s run was the second medal-combo for the U.S. team in Guadalajara, after Ashley Carroll and Aeriel Alease Skinner medaling in the Women’s Trap final. In addition to the gold and silver finishes in Guadalajara, Rhode and Connor have also won gold and silver together in Mexico at the World Cups in Acapulco in 2015 and 2017.

The bronze medal went to Great Britain’s Amber Hill, who is taking home another World Cup medal after the previous gold she won at the 2013 ISSF World Cup in Acapulco, Mexico. Hill finished with 42 hits out of 50.

Hill was followed by Slovakia’s Danka Bartekova and People’s Republic of China’s Wei Meng—who respectively placed fourth and fifth. Bartekova hit 32 of 40 targets, but missed two costly targets in her last round on station 5. Wei placed fifth with 24 hits out of 30 targets.

Lead photo by Nicolo Zangirolami/ISSF