Australia’s Skinner secures the first Gold medal of her career at the 2016 Olympic Games

An Oceanian derby marked the Gold medal match of the Trap Women event in Rio de Janeiro, where Australian 26-year-old Catherine Skinner beat New Zealand’s Natalie Ellen Rooney, 28, to become the Olympic Champion in her very first Olympic participation.

Skinner, who qualified for the semifinal through a shoot-off against Canada’s Cynthia Meyer, entered the Gold medal match with the best semifinal score: 14 hits, while Skinner had to beat USA’s Corey Cogdell in another shoot-off after they both crushed 13 targets.

In the Gold medal match, Skinner missed her very first target, even finding herself 2-hits behind after the fifth one. Rooney, however, missed two of her own in the midst of the match, allowing her Australian opponent to level the score at 7 hits with 6 targets left.

At that point Skinner zeroed in, definitely distancing herself from Rooney when the New Zealander missed two more straight targets, and claiming the Gold medal with the final score of 12 hits to 11.

"I cannot really describe my emotions because it has not quite sunk in. It has been one of these dreams that has come along, and you just hope for the best and keep chipping away, but at the end of the day in this sport, it all comes down to on the day,” Said an emotional Skinner after the medal ceremony. “Any one of the competitors here could have won, and today just happened to be my day!”

Rooney's Silver medal is the first medal of the 2016 Olympic Games for New Zealand.

“It’s pretty incredible,” she said. “It’s also my first Games so I’m absolutely stoked!”

“You never come here not expecting to do well. I have been training really hard for it, and I think I showed it. I ended up rushing it at the end, but I’m so happy to win a medal.” She concluded.

In the Bronze medal match it took a tie-breaking shoot-off to elect USA’s Corey Cogdell, 29, as the winner of the Olympic Bronze medal. The second of her career after the one she collected at Beijing 2008.

In the final, Cogdell faced and beat Spain’s reigning World Champion Fatima Galvez, 29. After both shooters concluded the regular round with 13 target hits, the Spaniard missed her very first shoot-off clay, offering Cogdell the chance to seal the Bronze. Which she did.

"My husband and I compete in almost everything we do together. We definitely push each other to achieve the next level,” said the American shooter speaking about her husband Mitch Unrein, a professional football player. "I was truly touched to see his team, the Chicago Bears, coming together and supporting me personally and on social media.”

Eliminated after the semifinal round, Skinner’s teammate Laetisha Scanlan, 26, placed 5th with 10 targets, while Italy’s 24-year-old Jessica Rossi, the Olympic Gold medallist four years ago in London (GBR), finished 6th with 10 target hits as well.

Two more Shooting sport events are scheduled for tomorrow: the 10m Air Rifle Men, with the final taking place at 12:00 PM (UTC-3), and the Trap Men, with the semifinal scheduled for 3:00 PM.

News and updates about the Olympic Shooting events will be available on the ISSF website and on the Federation’s social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Weibo.