CAIRO — U.S. Army Sgt. Samantha Simonton won the Gold Medal in Women’s Skeet at the International Shooting Sports Federation World Cup in Cairo, Egypt, January 29, 2024.
The Soldier with the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Shotgun Team earned her place in the Final with a qualification score of 121 out of a possible 125, which beat 31 other competitors from around the globe and tied one from France.
In the final against five other international competitors, the Gainesville, Georgia native strongly represented Team USA in the cold and windy conditions. Simonton won the Gold with a score of 50 while Italy’s Martina Maruzzo earned the Silver with a 47 and Reem Al Sharshani from Qatar took the Bronze Medal with a 37.
With part two of USA Shooting’s Shotgun Olympic Trials coming up in March, the USAMU Soldier said a gold medal win in challenging conditions helps her prepare for the highly competitive match that determines which athletes will represent the United States at the Paris Games.
“I am just trying to use it as a training tool and move forward onto better scores like I have been training,” Simonton.
This gold medal win brings Simonton’s ISSF medal count to five. Her past medals are:
Bronze from the 2022 ISSF World Championships
Bronze from the 2022 President’s Cup
Silver from 2023 ISSF World Cup-Italy
Silver from the 2023 ISSF World Cup-Qatar
The Bronze World Championships Medal also came with a coveted Olympic quota for the United States in women’s skeet.
Though Simonton won one of the two possible Olympic Quotas for the Women’s Skeet event, that does not qualify her personally for the Games. It just ensures that an American athlete a ticket to the Games. Therefore, the U.S. Army Soldier will compete for a seat on Team USA at USA Shooting’s Shotgun Olympic Trials in Tucson, Arizona March 11-17. Until then, every match is training for her path to Paris.
Story by LTC Michelle Lunato
Photos by Andrea Caroppo