Namibia’s leading shottist Gaby Ahrens shattered her personal best score at a World Cup during the third event of the season in Cyprus on Saturday.
Ahrens hit 22, 21 and 23 clay pigeons over the three qualifying rounds in the Olympic trap division. The Hyundai brand ambassador’s PB stood at 64, achieved at the World Cup in Tucson (USA) last year.
“Shooting my personal best at the ISSF World Cup! Surely, climbing up the ladder with my Krieghoff gun,” a delighted Ahrens commented after the tourney.
Unfortunately, for the 34-year-old two-time Olympian, the impressive score fell five shots short of qualifying her for the top 6 who battled it out in the final qualification round before the finals.
Overall victory went to Satu Makela-Nummela of Finland, edging past Russia’s Tatiana Barsuk in the gold medal match (13:12).
Ahrens ended in 28th overall position.
Makela-Nummela secured a Rio 2016 Olympic quota place. A two-time Olympian, Makela-Nummela is currently ranked 11th in the world and has been seeking a quota since the Rio 2016 qualification path opened at the 2014 ISSF World Championship in Granada, Spain.
For Ahrens, the World Cup was aimed at preparing for the African Championships in November in Johannesburg where she hopes to walk away with the win and thus qualify for the games in Rio de Janeiro next year.
The only African participant to outdo the Commonwealth bronze medallist of 2012 over the weekend was Mariem Rammah of Morocco. She scored a single point more than Ahrens during qualification – ending the tournament in 21st place. In addition, she is determined to participate at the fourth World Cup in Azerbaijan in August.