Published on 08 Jul 2013

Spotlight on Youth - A young final and an ambitious shooter

issf-logo
Alessandro Ceschi

10m Air Rifle was all about youth: gold and silver to Under-25s. The youngest, South Korea's Seo, was not even 20 – but has a World Record and a goal.

The average age of the athletes running for the Women's 10m Air Rifle gold – second final of Granada World Cup Day 3 - was just 23. Gold and silver medals went to Under-25s: China's Yi Siling, 24, came first - followed by Lisa Ungerank, the 21-year-old shooter of Austria. The only Over-25s were Andrea Arsovic, 26, and Wu Liuxi, 28, who got the bronze.


Then it was just about Under-23s: Stine Nielsen of Denmark, 22, placed 5th, just in front of USA's Sarah Scherer – same age. The last spot in the scoreboard went – surprisingly – to the Olympic silver medallist Ivana Maksimovic of Serbia, 23, just behind the youngest finalist of the day: Seo Su Wan of South Korea.

Seo, 19, – at her first ISSF World Cup - had performed an amazing score in the qualification round, setting a New Junior World Record of 420.1: “I really didn't expect I would have made such a great result, - she said – I don't really know what happened: I just got really focused and shot well”


But in the final, things didn't work: ”I still need more practice and more experience to compete at these levels.” Fair enough, for the almost-20-year-old Seo. She had started shooting only 5 years ago - when she was 14: “Back in my country – she explained - it's kind of usual to start club shooting when you're in middle or high school, just as a hobby.”


Now, with a Junior World Record in her pocket, her hopes got higher. “I want to become a world shooting star!”. Quite an optimistic plan for the 19-year-old Seo. She's just begun, but clearly knows what she wants. Only time can tell if her hopes are too high; as for now, she only has a Junior World Record at her World Cup debut. Which is not bad.