Rooney targets podium at world champs
New Zealand’s trap shooting trail blazer Natalie Rooney is aiming for another first at the World Shotgun Championships in Moscow, which start on Friday.
The Olympic silver medallist would love to be the first Kiwi competitor, male or female, to stand on the podium at an International Shooting Sports Federation world championships.
The 29-year-old has been a ground breaker in New Zealand women’s shooting. In Rio, Rooney became the first Kiwi woman to win an Olympic shooting medal.
The only previous Olympic medal came in the mixed 50m rifle prone when Ian Ballinger took bronze in Mexico in 1968.
Rooney then went on to win the ISSF World Cup final in October and grab the world No1 ranking, another first for a Kiwi.
She admits she now has a target on her back but tries to ignore the pressure that comes with it.
‘‘I don’t think about that, I just concentrate on my own performance,’’ she said.
’’I am feeling good at the moment so I want to just shoot the best I can.’’
Still based in Timaru, the hardworking Rooney admitted she would love to add a world championship medal to her collection.
‘‘I guess I have been paving the way with a lot of firsts, so a medal would be nice.’’
Her main competition is likely to come from Australian Olympic champion Catherine Skinner, defending world champion Fatima Galvez, of Spain, and American Corey Codgell.
Rooney said there were plenty of talented shooters both inside and outside the world’s top 10 so getting on the podium would not be easy.
‘‘It is very competitive but need to focus on myself.’’
Rooney arrived in Russia on I Friday and is happy with the shooting complex, where she has never competed before.
It will be Rooney’s sixth time at the world championships but she had flown largely under the radar until she won New Zealand’s first medal at the Rio Olympics last year.
Her best performance so far at a world championship was a sixth place in Italy two years ago.
Rooney said because of the large numbers competing this time, the competition is split over two days.
‘‘I will shoot 50 targets on Friday and 25 on Saturday. My aim is to get through to the final, which is the top six shooters and then see what happens.’’
Rooney has been training hard in Italy with her coach Andrea Miotto.
’’I was in a couple of competitions and didn’t do as well as I wanted. Since then things have been going in the right direction and I am wanting to improve, so I will certainly be fighting for it.’’
Rooney said she had certainly been helped by the performance enhancement grant from High Performance Sport New Zealand.
The $55,000 has allowed her to concentrate solely on shooting, which many of her competitors have done for a number of years. Rooney will also compete in the mixed pair when she teams up with fellow Kiwi Owen Robinson from Waikato.