Mav on Target

Aerospace engineering major Austen Smith had a summer to remember this year, as she competed in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Smith brought home bronze and silver medals in her skeet shooting events.

Smith made her Olympic debut in Tokyo at the 2020 Summer Games, which took place in 2021 due to the COVID‑19 pandemic, finishing 10th. She was 18 years old when she competed in Tokyo, the youngest member of the USA shooting team.

Smith didn’t begin shooting until she was 12 years old, when her dad took her to a shooting range. From the moment she hit her first target, she was hooked. Just two years later, she earned a silver medal in her first Junior World Cup, which is held by the International Shooting Sport Federation. The following year, she earned a bronze, and in 2019, she earned gold. At the latter event, which was held in Suhl, Germany, she set a world junior qualification record of 123 out of 125 targets.

The accolades have only continued from there: She was a 2024 gold medalist at the World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, and she also won gold at the 2023 World Championship and bronze at the Pan-American Games in Santiago, Chile.

“There’s no age limit to my sport. It all depends on the mental aspect and your willingness,” Smith says. “I’ll be able to take time off to finish my degree and still qualify for the 2028 Olympics. I have thought about completing my set of medals with a gold.”