Amber English (Photo courtesy of ISSF)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado   – It won’t just be the weather that’s hot in Tucson, Arizona as more than 200 of the world’s top Shotgun athletes converge on the Tucson Trap & Skeet Club starting Monday for the final stage of the 2018 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup of the year.
 

USA Shooting hasn’t hosted a Shotgun World Cup in the United States since the last ISSF World Cup in Tucson in 2014. For many, this event marks the last chance for Skeet, Trap and Trap Mixed Team athletes to tune up before the upcoming ISSF World Championship in Changwon, South Korea starting on August 31. The United States will be sending 17 athletes to Tucson to compete, including the newly-named Trap Mixed Teams that earned their tickets to Changwon last week. Read the recap here.

Fresh off her silver-medal win at the last World Cup stage in Siggiewi, Malta, Amber English (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit/Colorado Springs, Colorado) will look to climb another step on the podium in Women’s Skeet in Tucson. She’ll be joined by her six-time Olympic medalist teammate Kim Rhode (El Monte, California) and Caitlin Connor (Winnfield, Louisiana) who’ve been strong throughout the season as well.

Perhaps the most notable absence will be on the Men’s Skeet side as two-time Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Georgia) has opted-out of competing at this World Cup, leaving room for a new athlete to ascend to the top of the podium. Hancock has won gold at the previous three World Cups in 2018. Also competing will be two-time Olympian Frank Thompson(Alliance, Nebraska), along with USAMU teammates Phillip Jungman (Caldwell, Texas) and Dustan Taylor (Staley, North Carolina). Thompson’s had some close calls with the podium, finishing in fifth place at the World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico and eighth in Malta this year.

In Women’s Trap, Guadalajara medalists Ashley Carroll (gold, Solvang, California) and former Arizona Wildcat Aeriel Skinner (bronze in the individual event and Mixed Trap Team, Jackson, California) will look to end the season on a high note prior to the World Championship.  They will be joined by Kayle Browning-Thomas (Wooster, Arkansas), who with her teammate, Will Hinton(USAMU/Dacula, Georgia), were also the top-finishing team at the Mixed Trap Team tryout last week by 15 points.

Leading the Men’s Trap contingent will be Qualification world-record holder Jake Wallace (Castaic, California). He will be joined by former Double Trap specialists and 2008 Olympic gold medalist Glenn Eller (USAMU/Katy, Texas) and Derek Haldeman (USAMU/Sunbury, Ohio). Haldeman finished in fifth place last year at the ISSF World Championship in Moscow, Russia.

Wallace and his teammate for Trap Mixed Team, two-time Olympic bronze medalist Corey Cogdell-Unrein (Eagle River, Alaska), were the second-highest finishing team at last week’s Mixed Team tryouts. They, along with Browning-Thomas/Hinton, will make their team debuts at a World Cup to close out this World Cup.

More than 200 athletes from 41 countries will compete at the ISSF World Cup in Tucson July 9 – 19. For a complete schedule of events and live results, please click here. The public is welcomed to this event and is free of charge for spectators.

About USA Shooting: USA Shooting, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of shooting in April 1995. USA Shooting's mission is to prepare American athletes to win Olympic medals, promote the shooting sports throughout the U.S. and govern the conduct of international shooting in the country. Check us out on the web at usashooting.org and on Twitter at twitter.com/USAShooting.ELEY is a Proud Sponsor of the USA Shooting Rifle and Pistol Teams: ELEY Limited, manufacturer of the world's most consistently accurate rimfire ammunition, has been the Official Sponsor and Official Supplier of .22 rimfire ammunition of the USA Shooting rifle and pistol teams since 2000. For more information on ELEY and their products, please visit eley.co.uk.

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