2023 in review: From Regional Games to Lima, a year full of action

World Championships and a historical season with three Regional Games marked the year in shooting Para sport. 

The season ended mid-December with the World Cup in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, and now it is time to look back at 2023.

Kick-off in Korea

Changwon hosted a World Cup for the second consecutive year in May. The competition distributed 19 quota allocations to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and saw 10 new world records set. 

A particular French athlete made a strong statement about the season ahead. Tanguy de La Forest picked three gold medals – same as Sweden’s Anna Benson – and set a new world record in the R4 - mixed 10m air rifle standing SH2, showing there was just the beginning of another great year.

The World Cup marked the return of Chinese athletes to international events with them collecting six gold medals – only hosts Korea had more victories, topping the podium with 12 gold.

More about the Changwon World Cup here. 

Back to Osijek

After four years, the World Cup season returned to the familiar Osijek range as the Croatian city hosted athletes from 35 nations in July.

Paralympic champion Avani Lekhara led a strong Indian performance as the country picked 18 medals during six days of action.

Spain’s Agar Solabarrieta Txakartegi also left his mark in VI events, while Slovakia’s Paralympic legend Veronika Vadovicova showed top form ahead of the European Para Championships – more on that below.

You can read more about the Osijek 2023 World Cup here.

Games are on!

Five years ago, shooting Para sport was part of the competition programme of only one of the Regional Games at the Asian Para Games in Indonesia. In 2023, Asia, Europe and the Americas hosted the world's best shooters in continental multi-sport events.

First stop was Rotterdam in the Netherlands, home to the first edition of the European Para Championships. The Rotterdam Ahoy hosted four days of shooting Para sport events with Slovakia's Vadovicova, Ukraine's Iryna Shchetnik and France's Pierre Guillaume-Sage setting new world records.

Check out more about the European Para Championships here. 

Hangzhou, China was home to the Asian Para Games in October.  It was the fourth edition of the Games, and shooting Para sport has been part of the programme since the inaugural Asian Paras at Guangzhou 2010.

It was also the first major event after September's World Championships in Lima, but two of the main stars in China were absent in Peru. India's Lekhara took her first Asian Para Games gold medal, while Iran's Sareh Javanmardi picked a silver just three months after giving birth to her son. 

Chinese and Korean athletes topped the medals standings and you can read more about it here.

Chilean capital Santiago held its biggest international shooting Para sport event to date in November at the Parapan American Games. USA finished in first place as eight of the 13 participant countries achieved podium finishes - an evidence of the development of the sport in the Americas region just in the second time the shooting was part of the Games' programme. 

Argentina, Costa Rica and Uruguay picked their first-ever medals with Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and Peru also among the medallists. 

The complete review of the shooting Para sport action at Santiago 2023 is here.

Legendary Lima

The highlight of the year was the first World Championships to take place in the Americas with Peruvian capital Lima hosting 260 athletes from 54 countries compete in 31 medal events.

France topped the rankings with six gold medals, four of them coming with the help of De La Forest. The reigning world champion defended his title in the R9 – mixed 50m rifle prone SH2 and also took another individual gold and a world record in the R4 – mixed 10m air rifle standing SH2. He added other two victories and world records in team events in R4 and R9.

Para trap saw an Italian domination in Lima with triple gold while vision impaired events had another strong show from Spain's Txakartegi.

The atmosphere at the Las Palmas Air Base Shooting Range was something special and you can check more about the unforgettable World Championships here. 

The 2023 season wrapped up with the Al Ain World Cup at the venue of the 2022 Worlds and another great performance from Tanguy de La Forest.