James Willett and Penny Smith were untouchable on the range at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Hangzhou 2026, taking gold in the Trap Mixed Team event and matching the world record along the way. The result rounded out a strong week for VIS shooters, with Kiara Dean also reaching the podium a day earlier, claiming bronze in the Trap Women’s Final behind France’s Carole Cormenier and America’s Rachel Tozier.
The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) duo went ahead on the range from the opening round of qualification, finishing with the top combined score of 149 out of 150, a feat that landed them equal with the standing world record.
Willett and Smith were both in excellent form throughout. Willett, named as a contender to watch heading into the competition, shot a flawless 75 of 75 targets, while Smith was equally impressive with 74 of 75.
Their poised position carried them into the afternoon’s final at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, with home favourites Qi Ying and Sun Yunong directly behind them.
The final concluded with Willett hitting 19 of his 20 targets and Smith 18 of her 20, sealing gold with a combined score of 37, two hits clear of China’s silver medallists, and equalling another world record in the process.
The victory capped a remarkable fortnight for Willett, who claimed Trap Mixed Team gold and set that same world record alongside Catherine Skinner at the ISSF World Cup Shotgun Lonato just two weeks earlier. Backing that up with a second world record-equalling performance, this time alongside Smith.
It has been a standout year for Smith individually as well. In May, she broke the world record in the Women’s Trap final at the ISSF World Cup in Almaty, closing out a faultless 30 from 30 to claim gold, a result that has carried her into a rich vein of form on the world circuit.
Dean produced a final score of 22 targets hit in her own final the day before. Fellow Australian Penny Smith finished fourth with 18 targets. The result marks Dean’s highest ISSF World Cup finish, and the latest step in a rapid rise for the young Echuca shooter, who has climbed from state and national ranks to the top echelon of world trap shooting in just a few short years.
Attention for the Australian trap program now turns to the ISSF World Championships in Doha in November and the ISSF World Cup Final in Rome in December, as the squad continues its build toward the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
