"VAN" (Sports Desk - 09.10.2025) :: The 2025 ISSF World Championship Shotgun is set to welcome 406 athletes to the Malakasa Shooting Range near Athens, as Greece gets ready to host the competition for the first time in its history.
These athletes come from 64 National Federations, with 15 podium spots on the line across men's and women's trap and skeet finals, as well as the trap mixed team event.
Men's Trap
All four gold medal winners on the ISSF World Cup circuit this year are in the field - as is Great Britain's Nathan Hales, the Olympic champion. Hales set a new Olympic record to beat China's Qi Ying to the gold in Chateauroux. His opponent that day has not been selected by the Chinese team, but Guatemala's Jean Pierre Brol, who took bronze and became his country's first Olympic medallist in shooting, is on the entry list.
Joining Hales on the British team are Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Matthew Coward-Holley and Aaron Heading, who took bronze at the ISSF World Cup in Nicosia. That day in Cyprus, the surprise winner was Spain's Manuel Murcia, who will look for another shock result alongside his compatriot and 2024 world junior champion Andres Garcia.
Two Italians stand out - the first of these being the great Giovanni Pellielo, who became one of the oldest World Cup winners in history when he took victory in Lonato at the age of 55. Mauro de Filippis has twice been on the World Cup podium this season. Walton Eller and William Hinton, who took silver and bronze in Buenos Aires, will represent the United States. Hinton would go on to win the next leg in Lima.
And one of the greats, the 2012 Olympic champion and defending world champion Giovanni Cernogoraz, leads a strong Croatian team which also consists of the Glasnovic brothers, Anton and Josip who are both world medallists. Also in the field is Australian Olympic finalist James Willett and Czechs David Kostelecky and Jiri Liptak.
Women's Trap
Olympic champion Adriana Ruano will be looking to find the form that gave her the gold medal just over a year ago in Chateauroux when she became the first Olympic champion from Guatemala. 2024 was a breakthrough year, and will likely beat her best World Championship result, when she finished 33rd in Baku. This year, she took bronze in Lima and finished 10th in Buenos Aires.
The other Olympic medallists return too, with silver medallist Silvana Stanco and bronze medallist Penny Smith looking for more success. The Italian Stanco took gold in Lima this year, as well as silver in Lonato and fifth in Buenos Aires. Smith would win the other South American leg in Buenos Aires and will hope to make her first world senior final. Her Australian teammate and two-time Olympic finalist Laetisha Scanlan won in Lonato, signalling a return to form after a difficult couple of years. She has finished five times in the top 10 at the World Championship, advancing from qualification on four occasions, but yet to stand on the podium.
The other World Cup winner this season is Lada Denisova, who took gold in Nicosia. The AIN athlete defeated Carey Garrison from the United States for the victory and backed it up with bronze in Lonato. The 20-year-old American has claimed World Cup silver twice this year and has had a strong season, minus a blip in Lonato.
European champion Kathrin Murche of Germany is the defending bronze medallist, while the defending champion, Lin Yi-chun from Chinese Taipei is also entered alongside her teammate Liu Wan-yu, who took bronze in Buenos Aires. Alessandra Perilli, who became San Marino's first-ever Olympic medallist four years ago, is the ISSF World Cup Final defending champion and has made the world final on three occasions, albeit without silverware. Spain's hopes will lie with three-time Olympic finalist and 2015 world champion Fatima Galvez and Mar Molne, who placed fourth at Paris 2024.
Women's Skeet
The American women's skeet team has been arguably the most dominant in shooting sport this year. All three of their athletes - Kimberly Rhode, Samantha Simonton and Dania Vizzi - have won ISSF World Cup gold medals this year.
Rhode is a three-time Olympic champion and is considered one of the greatest shotgun athletes of all time. Her sole individual world title came in 2010, but comes in as one of the favourites. Vizzi was the runner-up in 2023, taking world silver behind another star of the sport, Slovakia's Danka Hrbekova, the defending champion. Simonton is ranked number one in the world and is the youngest of the trio. She took bronze in 2022 and was fourth a year later in Baku. She is also the defending ISSF World Cup Final champion and has three World Cup podiums this year - arguably the most in-form entry.
AIN athlete Arina Kuznetsova has been the only athlete this year who has seriously challenged the Americans, having won ahead of Simonton in Nicosia and finishing behind Vizzi and Rhode on the podium in Buenos Aires. For the hosts, 2023 bronze medallist Emmanouela Katzouraki will be a medal hope, having also finished fifth at Paris 2024. She finished fifth at the Lonato World Cup and placed ninth at the European Championship too. That European Championship title would go to Lucie Anastassiou from France on home soil. Diana Bacosi is the likely contender from Italy, the two-time world champion and Rio 2016 gold medallist. India's rising star Raiza Dhillon is one of the young dark horses, while China's best chances likely lie with Jiang Yiting, who took bronze in Lonato this year.
Men's Skeet
When looking at both American skeet teams, it is clear they are the most consistently strong in the world. Above all in the men's competition is four-time Olympic champion Vincent Hancock, who won in Lonato. His teammate Christian Elliott won the opener in Buenos Aires and his protege Conner Prince is the reigning Olympic silver medallist behind Hancock. So strong is this team that Lima winner Dustan Taylor did not make the cut.
The defending champion is not in the field this year, as home athlete Efthimios Mitas was not selected. Charalambos Chalkiadis will hold Greek hopes, having won bronze in Nicosia behind silver medallist Jesper Hansen of Denmark and gold medallist Elia Srduccioli of Italy. Srduccioli is not part of the Italian team and expectations will sit with 2016 Olympic champion Gabriele Rossetti. India's Anant Naruka and Hector Flores from Chile will be amongst the contenders.
Responses
Leave your comment