Ginny Thrasher won the very first Gold Medal of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. And now she has her sights set on another strong performance in the next Olympics, slated for Japan in 2021. Ginny Thrasher’s marksmanship success story started a decade ago at the age of 14 when she went on a hunting trip with her grandfather. From there she rose to stardom in collegiate shooting and then the Olympics.

In 2016 when Ginny earned Gold in Rio for Team USA she was the youngest American female to ever win a shooting Gold Medal. In first Olympic showing, she led the Women’s 10-meter air rifle and set a new Olympic record with a finals score of 208.0!

“There are so many feelings associated with 2016 for me … I didn’t realize it at the time, but that was the year that all athletes dream of”, the now 23-year-old said. “Going to the Olympics was one of the most amazing and singular once-in-a-lifetime experiences that not everyone gets … It was amazing,”

Returning to the United States after the Olympics in 2016 presented a swirling new world for Ginny. As a collegiate athlete on the West Virginia University (WVU) rifle team, she suddenly found herself the most famous person on campus — often stopped while walking to class or shopping for groceries, being asked for a picture or an autograph.

The overwhelming response of the country, from strangers to national media, turned attention to the sport of rifle shooting. That gave Ginny a sense of pride in the impact she had made for the entire marksmanship community: “That’s something that athletes in other sports experience all the time, but it’s not something rifle shooters typically experience,” she said. “I was very, very grateful to have the community support, and it was a lot of fun to go and be invited to different events and speak to different media outlets and truly represent my sport.”

She went on, “It was getting a lot of attention at a time when our sport is not very common, not a lot of people know what it is … So the more I could answer people’s questions to advocate and to educate, to me, that was a huge opportunity.”

With her medal carefully tucked away in a bank lockbox for safekeeping, Ginny has done her best to become accustomed to her new reality. As she went back to competing with her WVU teammates in 2016, she found herself sometimes distracted by the attention.

“It definitely took some adjusting – getting used to my normal rifle matches where they might be calling athletes to the line and you have 10 young girls who want to take a photo with you and get your autograph,” she said. “I’m proud that I can try to be a role model and that people look up to me, but at the same time, it’s hard to compete when you’re being pulled in different directions by different people.”

“I’m a lot better at that now then that I used to be,” she added. “There’s kind of a learning curve.”

Luckily, public response didn’t stop her from staying committed to her own rifle performances while also supporting the performances of her WVU team. She says the best parts about being a part of a NCAA rifle team are the resources, educational opportunities, and the chance to create lasting connections.

“At West Virginia, we talked a lot about legacy, and as the rifle team with historically the most track record of NCAA championships … it was about leaving the team, leaving the university better than you found it,” she said. “It felt like it had a greater purpose … you meet friends and teammates you’re going to have for life.”

Her senior year at WVU was even more special for her and her teammates as the school hosted the 2019 NCAA Championships for the first time in collegiate history. Rifle fans within the Coliseum, WVU’s basketball arena, even broke the attendance record.

After graduation in May 2019, she didn’t wait to keep her rifle career moving forward. She immediately moved to Colorado Springs to train at the Olympic Training Center, where she has worked as a full-time professional athlete ever since. She plans to stay in Colorado Springs for the next four years, hoping to become a repeat Olympic athlete.

“I’m really having a fun time exploring a new location, living in a new place, being able to spend more hours training, doing what I love, taking a bigger role in the national team. That’s been great,” she said. “I’m really enjoying it.”

At the Olympic Training Center, Ginny has had the opportunity to reconnect with National Rifle coach Dan Durben, former director and chief instructor of the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s (CMP) Summer Air Rifle Camps, where he stayed for over a decade. A 1988 Olympian himself, Durben has had past success as a trainer, serving as the National Rifle Team coach 1997 to 2000 and the Paralympic Shooting Team from 2003 to 2008 – leading multiple teams to the Olympics.

As a junior, Ginny attended both the three-position and standing CMP Camps, under Durben, and was excited to train under him again at the Olympic Training Center: “The creator extraordinaire, I guess you could call him … the Megamind behind the Summer Camps was Dan Durbin, who is now my National coach, who I see and talk to every single day,” she said. “It’s really cool to me that I can kind of see the connections with some of the things.”

She went on, “You know you’re really getting high-level information and coaching at those camps – we can prove that because Dan is now a very successful National coach, and not for the first time either. So that’s such a great opportunity.”

Ginny also discussed the experiences the CMP Camps create for NCAA athletes, who gain coaching skills as counselors: “I honestly cannot speak highly enough of that program,” she said. “I think it’s really important because you’re growing that generation of athletes to want to shoot in college, and then you’re taking the generation of college athletes and teaching them how to coach better … a lot of them go on to be collegiate coaches, a lot of them just go on to coach their local high school or their local junior club. And that is so important too, so I think there’s really good longevity in the CMP Camps system.”

Ginny admits she has matured immensely as an athlete since she was young, learning from so many challenges and experiences both on and off the firing line.

“I feel like going into 2016, I was kind of this wide-eyed little 19-year-old, going in as the underdog,” she said. “After hopefully going into the 2021 Olympics, if I qualify, I can go in more as a professional athlete with more of an adult relationship with my sport … knowing more about what I’m getting into, being able to handle it, embracing the fact that there are challenges and that your career, just like everything in life, is a roller coaster. There’s good times and bad times, and they feed off of each other, and they make each one more special.”

“Trying to be a better teammate, trying to meet more selfless, trying to worry more about the sport and the mechanics of it. Even my understanding of how each position works is so much better now than it was 2016,” she added.

Trials for the postponed 2020 Olympics were completed for air rifle before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Unfortunately, Ginny found herself without a spot on the team. But, with one smallbore trial down and one to go, Ginny is leading overall and has the potential to again represent the United States. The final trial has not been set but will hopefully take place at the beginning of 2021.

Whenever it happens, Ginny will be ready.

“We’re in a good place and we’re just staying focused on doing everything possible that we can,” Ginny said. “The goal is to be able to say to ourselves, ‘You did everything. You did everything so now you can go compete with confidence.’ If I can do that, I’m confident the outcome will take care of itself.”

Outside of training, Ginny has been hard at work promoting her brand – launching her own website (GinnyThrasher.com) in August. There, followers can keep track of Ginny as well as purchase autographs and other merchandise. She has also invented her own kneeling roll, a project she developed while in college. Ginny’s kneeling roll is currently in production with MEC of Germany and will be available for purchase around the world.

Today is an important day for Team USA shooters at the Rio Olympics. American rifle marksmen SFC Michael McPhail and David Higgins will be competing in the smallbore 50m prone event. In addition, 25m Pistol shooters will compete, and the Women’s Skeet Finals will be held this afternoon.

UPDATE: CLICK HERE for Video Highlights of Mens 50M Prone Finals on NBCOlympics.com

SFC Michael McPhail

Hopes are high for McPhail, one of the favorites to win a shooting Gold Medal in Rio. McPhail, ranked number one in the world in men’s 50-meter rifle prone, won the ISSF World Cup Finals in Munich this September. McPhail also won back-to-back gold medals at the ISSF World Cup events at Fort Benning, GA and Munich, Germany, held in May and early June of 2015. This is McPhail’s second Olympic appearance, so he understands what’s at stake: “The Olympics are unlike any other match you’ll ever shoot, the magnitude of it….”

SFC Michael McPhail, shown above, is currently ranked #1 in the world in the smallbore 50m prone rifle discipline. He’s one of the favorites to win Gold today in Rio.

David Higgins

Air Force Academy graduate David Higgins has been a competitive shooter since his early teens. “I was 13 when I first began shooting Rifle competitively, and I immediately knew that I wanted to pursue Rifle as my primary sport,” said Higgins.

Higgins recently graduated from the Air Force Academy and enjoys rock climbing, sailing and surfing in his free time. He now moves on to the next phase of his military career, having cross-commissioned into the Marine Corps upon graduation to become an infantry officer.

Our friend, trick-shot ace Kirsten Joy Weiss, will be featured on the NRA All-Access TV show next week. As a performance shooter (and modern-day Annie Oakley) Weiss has focused her efforts to “bring the fun, challenge, and joy of shooting to a mainstream audience” via social media.

Watch Preview of NRA All Access with Kirsten Joy Weiss

Kirsten wants to be a good ambassador for the shooting sports, “spreading the positive reality of shooting”. Kirsten explains: “The fun challenge and joy of shooting is important to me because I really wanted to be a positive example. So when the media says the ‘guns are a bad thing and nobody does anything good with guns’, they can say ‘Well, what about her [Kirsten]’?”

A gifted “natural” shooter, Kirsten started shooting fairly late — at age 16. Despite her relatively late start, she learned very quickly, and managed to earn a place on the University of Nebraska shooting team. That literally opened up a new world for Kirsten: “During the course of my career, I’ve had a lot of success. I’ve gone to World Cups… in Zagreb, Croatia, in Munich, Germany. I’ve won National Championships, and got on to the U.S. Olympic short list, so it’s been a good career.”

In 2012, Kirsten was the top USA athlete-shooter at the Munich World Cup. She won the 2012 NRA Three-Position Women’s Smallbore Championship and also won the Standing Position, while finishing as the National Overall Woman Champion.

Kirsten tells us: “A lot of people don’t think of shooting as a sport, but it absolutely is, and I would even go so far as to say that it is an art form.” We don’t know if this is art, sport, or magic, but very few shooters have the skill or flexibility to make this upside-down shot…

This animated GIF shows Kirsten cutting a card in half with a .22 LR bullet. Impressive!

We’re not much into computer or video games, but here is an interesting App for shooters that might actually help develop your visual skills and concentration. The new ShootingWorldCup-SWC interactive game simulates an Olympic-class air rifle competition. The soon-to-be released App for smart-phones and mobile devices is highly realistic. You can select a variety of high-end air rifles, adjust your sights, choose your shooting gear, and complete a World-Cup style match. As players “shoot” at regulation World Cup targets, the App plots shot impacts and records scores. You can even engage in multi-player tournaments, competing against other shooters around the world.

Video Previews Features of SWC Interactive Shooting App:

App lets you select a variety of premium Olympic-grade air rifles.

Sorry, this App has not yet been released, but you can go to www.shootingworld.com and request to be notified when the App is finalized.

In the highest level of ISSF competition, it is very unusual for a pistol shooter to even compete in a rifle match. It is unheard-of that a pistol shooter would actually earn a medal. That is like an Olympic 100m spinter also medaling in the Marathon. It just doesn’t happen.

USAR Team shooter Nick Mowrer pulled off this remarkable accomplishment at the 2014 ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning. It’s not known whether a pistol specialist has ever earned a World Cup medal in rifle competition. In fact none of the experts from USA Shooting can recall another shooter who has even competed in both rifle and pistol categories at the same World Cup event. It appears Mowrer made history with his smallbore rifle Bronze medal. Competitive pistol shooters aren’t supposed to be good rifle shooters as well. Mowrer’s bronze-medal-winning performance has changed that view.

Cross-Training Works Well Mowrer Says
Will we see more pistoleros “cross the aisle” and shoot rifle? Only time will tell. But Mowrer believes that “cross-training” with both rifle and pistol has improved his overall marksmanship skills: “I have used prone smallbore (rifle) as cross training for pistol for years now and I am very excited to have the unique opportunity to represent the USA not only in pistol but rifle as well. I shoot multiple events, not only prone, but the reason is just the same; I use other shooting disciplines to be able to compete in more matches and gain more experience that I am able to then use in my pistol shooting! It also keeps shooting fun and exciting.” Read related USAR story.

Mowrer’s medal at Fort Benning has caused a stir among top-level World Cup shooters. The reigning Olympic gold medalist in Women’s 3-P rifle, Jamie Gray, recently posted:

“Today is an amazing day…our Olympic Pistol Shooter Nick Mowrer broke into the medals in Men’s Prone [rifle event]! Couldn’t be more excited for him and obviously his amazing shooting abilities! Nick… [took] a Prone Rifle Bronze, nothing more to say than AWESOME!”

Young Russian Wins First Gold of the Competition
Nazar Luginets, 24, from the Russian Federation, won the first medal match of the competition, the 10m Air Rifle Men event. With 209.4 points, the Russian athlete beat Serbian Milutin Stefanovic, who finished just one tenth behind Luginets. The 2013 Euro Champion, Sergey Richter from Israel, finished third.

10m Air Rifle Winner Nazar Luginets

New Air Pistol Record Set
Hoang Xuan Vinh, from Vietnam, won the 10m Air Pistol Men final, setting a new world record in the process. Currently ranked 8th in the world, The Vietnamese pistol shooter pocketed the Gold medal with a record score of 202.8 points in the final, breaking the previous 202.3-point record set by the 2008 Olympic Champion Pang Wei of China. Hoang beat Russians finalists Sergey Chervyakovskiy, and Vladimir Gontcharov, 36, who finished in second and third place with 202.3 and 181.3 points, respectively. This was an important comeback for Gontcharov, a 14-time ISSF World Cup medalist. Vladimir who started competing back in 1990, had been far from ISSF podiums since 2012.

ISSF World Cup (Fort Benning) 2013 50m Rifle Prone Winner Valerian Sauveplane of France.

At the last Rifle/Pistol World Cup USA back in May 2013, the USA earned two medals with Will Brown winning a gold medal in Men’s 10m Air Pistol and Dempster Christenson winning a silver medal in Men’s Air Rifle. Highlights from last year’s ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning are featured in the 24-minute video linked below. The video covers both rifle and pistol disciplines.

Here is last year’s women’s 50m 3P winner at the Fort Benning World Cup, Andrea Arsovic of Serbia.

Complete ISSF World Cup (Fort Benning) Match Schedule
If you want to watch the matches,or meet some of the shooters here is a schedule for the all the events, starting with training sessions on March 27th.

CLICK HERE for General Match INFO (PDF)
CLICK HERE for list of competitors, grouped by Nation (PDF).

Photos ©2014 ISSF | Competitor Photos: Marco Dalla Dea

The ISSF News Tablet Magazine can be downloaded for free, in English and German. Pick the version that suits your hardware — Apps are offered for both Android tablets and for iPads. Bimonthly issues are published in February, April, June, August, October and December.

The ISSF News Tablet Magazine covers precision shooting around the globe. Each issue spotlights top shooters and the latest hardware — rifles, sights, accessories, ammo. You’ll find up-to-date coverage of top-level competitions, and these match reports feature videos, slide shows, and other interactive features made possible by modern, touch-screen tablet technology.

Preview iPad Version of ISSF Digital Magazine

You Provide the Running Shoes — ISSF Provides the Air Rifles
“A pair of running shoes is all you need. Everything is designed to keep costs down for the athletes. The ISSF will provide targets and single-shot air rifles,” explained ISSF Secretary General Franz Schreiber. “The game is as easy as it looks”, says Schreiber, “Competitors will run on a track or running path and then stop at the air gun range to shoot at falling targets on their assigned firing points. There are no complicated scoring systems — the first athlete to cross the finish line is the winner.”

ISSF President Olegario Vazquez Raña adds: “We are developing ISSF TARGET SPRINT under the rubric of Sport for All, a program now being strongly promoted by the IOC. We were looking for a new event that combines marksmanship and fitness, can be staged outdoors, and is accessible to everybody.”

How Does ISSF TARGET SPRINT Work?
ISSF Target Sprint participants begin each event with a mass start and a fixed distance run. At the end of the first run, normally 600 meters, they stop at a 10-meter air rifle range where they must pick up their rifles and shoot at and hit five knockdown targets from standing position. More than five shots are often required to hit all five targets, but that adds to the shooting time. There are no penalties, but the sooner you finish shooting, the sooner you can start running your next lap. At the end of the second run, participants must shoot another five targets before beginning the third and final running stage. The final rankings are clear and easy to understand. The athlete who completes the three running stages and two shooting stages and who is the first at the finish line is the winner.

ISSF TARGET SPRINT Competition this May
at ISSF World Cup in Munich, Germany
The new event will have its official 2013 inauguration during the 2013 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Munich, set for 23-30 May at the Hochbrück Olympic Shooting Range. The ISSF TARGET SPRINT competition will be held on the 26th of May.

Participation is open and more than 40 athletes have already registered to compete. World Cup participants who are interested in trying TARGET SPRINT are invited to bring their running shoes and clothing to Munich and give it a try.

Ranked ninth in the world, Parker earned his invitation to Bangkok after winning the Milan World Cup earlier this season. The 38-year-old Parker, no stranger to the World Cup Finals after six previous visits, made it to the final round with a head-start of four points after shooting an 1,171. Scoring 95.5 points during the final stage, Parker won gold with an overall score of 1266.5 points. Parker added. “”I have been competing in World Cup Finals since 1998, and dreaming of a gold medal since then. It’s finally around my neck, and it feels great!”

Three points behind him, Korea’s Han Jinseop pocketed the silver medal with an overall score of 1263.5 points. Making it to the final with 1166, Han overtook Norway’s Ole Kristian Bryhn to finish on the second step of the podium with a final score of 97.5 points. Bryhn landed in third, securing the Bronze medal with a total score of 1263.0 (1167+96.0) points.

Parker’s Olympic and USAMU teammate SFC Eric Uptagrafft took fourth in the World Cup Final Wednesday in the Men’s Prone Rifle event. (He finished .6 points away from second place). In other ISSF World Cup events in Bangkok, USAMU shotgunners did well. Josh Richmond earned the gold medal in Men’s Double Trap while Vincent Hancock shot his way to a silver medal in Men’s Skeet.

Elite Field for ISSF World Cup
Starting with the London World Cup in April and then passing through Milan and Munich, the 2012 ISSF World Cup Series finished in Bangkok. Only the sport’s top performers were invited to compete in the World Cup Finals. Ninety (90) shooters from 34 countries, including Olympic medalists and past World Cup title holders, competed at the Thailand ISSF World Cup Match this year. (Shown at right is SFC Parker competing at the Milan World Cup.)