Six-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode of El Monte defeated fellow American Caitlin Connor, 4-3, in a shootoff Thursday to win the gold medal in the women’s skeet event at the ISSF World Cup competition in Tucson, Arizona.
Rhode and Connor, a Winnfield, Louisiana resident, both hit 55 targets out of 60 in the final at Tucson Trap and Skeet Club, forcing the shootoff.
“I had to work for that one,” Rhode said after winning her third gold medal this season and 18th overall on the World Cup circuit organized by the International Shooting Sport Federation, shooting’s international governing body.
“Going into the final, I struggled through the first couple passes, dropping three. I knew I had my work cut out for me. From then on, I just figured out what I was doing and just kind of took it one target at a time. I think we were all fighting the heat a bit, and for me personally, I was fighting a headache too.”
Rhode setting a qualification world record by hitting 122 of 125 targets, one more than Connor.
The 38-year-old Rhode said she is training to shoot in three events at the 2020 Olympics — trap, the trap mixed team and skeet. There is no mixed team skeet event.
Rhode is the only Summer Olympic athlete to win a medal in six consecutive games. Her medal haul includes gold medals in 1996, 2004 and 2012.