American sports shooter Austen Jewell Smith was born in Dallas, Texas, on July 23, 2001. In the ISSF World Cup 2021 Shotgun in Lonato, Italy, she took home the gold medal. Additionally qualified for the 2024 Olympics in Paris is AUSTEN Smith.
Olympian 2020 Austen Smith is competing in the Paris Olympics 2024
Austen Smith, an Olympic shooter from the United States who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has qualified to take part in the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. She celebrated winning a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup Shotgun event held on May 10, 2021, in Desenzano del Garda, Italy.
Smith, who is sponsored by Federal Ammunition, secured her place on the USA Shooting Women’s Skeet team that will compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. She earned this opportunity after participating in the 2024 USA Shooting Shotgun Selection Match, which took place from March 11 to 17 at the Tucson Trap and Skeet Club in Tucson, Arizona.
In the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, when she was just 19 years old, Austen Smith became the youngest American shooter to be part of the Olympic team.
Austen Smith’s Personal Life
The well-recognized American sports shooter Austen Jewell Smith was born on July 23, 2001, in Dallas, Texas. She has a sister named Harper Smith. Austen was coached by Vincent Hancock, who is a two-time Olympic champion in shooting.
Her hobbies and interests include reading books, drawing or making art, and listening to music. Austen has shared childhood pictures with her sister Harper Smith on her Instagram account, allowing her followers to catch a glimpse of her early years.
Austen starts shooting
During the Lonato World Cup finals, Austen Smith was the youngest shooter among the top six competitors. She rose to fame in 2019 when she won the gold medal at the ISSF Junior World Cup held in Suhl.
In the year she made her Olympic debut, Austen Smith showcased excellent form by winning the gold medal in the skeet event at the ISSF Shooting World Cup in Lonato, Italy. She scored an 55 out of 60 in the final round, earning her first senior World Cup medal. She outperformed Amber Hill of Great Britain, who finished second with 52 points, and Danka Bartekova of Slovakia, who came third with 43 points.
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At just 19 years old, Austen Smith came out as a rising star on the U.S. shooting team. She had previously won a silver medal in skeet at the 2017 Junior World Championships, followed by a bronze medal in 2018 and a mixed team gold medal in 2019. That same year, she claimed her first Junior World Cup gold medal.
In March, Smith and her teammate Amber English both qualified for the Tokyo Olympics at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Shotgun. Smith, English, and Samantha Simonton also competed in the women’s team event in Lonato, qualifying second behind the host nation. The team final took place on Tuesday, while the skeet mixed team event was held on Wednesday.
Austen Smith Career
At a young age, Austen Smith accomplished a remarkable feat by defeating the world’s number-one-ranked shooter, Amber Hill, at the 2021 ISSF World Cup in Lonato. She secured the gold medal in this competition.
During the skeet women’s final event, Smith outperformed Amber Hill by hitting 55 out of 60 targets. In comparison, Hill scored 52 out of 60, while Danka Bartekova from Slovakia finished third with 43 hits out of 60 targets.
More recently, in 2023, Austen Smith added another significant achievement to her name by winning the Women’s National Skeet Championship Title. With this victory, she joined her fellow Olympian and mentor, Vincent Hancock, as USA Shooting’s 2023 National Men’s and Women’s Skeet Champions, respectively.
