Bookaar trap shooter Penny Smith ties world record with perfect score at Lilydale competition

The Olympic shooter, competing at the two-day Yarra Valley Grand Prix at Melbourne Gun Club, achieved a clean 125 to equal the women's world record and break her own Australian women's trap record on Sunday.

She also equals the Australian ISSF Olympic Trap record alongside Nidal Asmar, who shot the first perfect score in Australia in 2007.

"Extremely happy," Smith told The Standard. "It doesn't happen very often, if at all.

"Not many people do it internationally, there has only ever been one other female do it - (Tokyo Olympic gold medalist) Zuzana Rehak-Stefecekova - I shot next to her at the Olympic Games when she did it.

"You sort of look at it as one target at a time really but to be able to do the same thing 125 times out of 125 times is huge. I was pretty fatigued after the first day... I got some good rest and came out the next day and ran the 50 straight.

"It's a pretty surreal feeling, it's sort of something everybody dreams to do as a shooter. I was extremely proud of myself."

However, the job wasn't done after her rare feat with Smith needing to advance through the women's finals stages. Qualifying first for the medal match, Smith shot 24/25 to win the gold.

"You've got to back it up and shoot a good final," she said. "To get the double was really exciting. There was a lot of people down there extremely happy for me."

Smith won gold and silver medals at the International Shooting Sport Federation Trap Commonwealth Championships and ISSF Trap National Championships respectively in Perth last month.

The 27-year-old said she had put a lot of hard work into her performance since then after she felt her qualifying wasn't where it needed to be.

"I came away from there knowing my fitness and mental telepathy wasn't at the standard where it probably needed to be," she said.

"I worked pretty hard for the next three weeks to get myself back on track and worked through a few situations... and just came out on the weekend and wanted to get a job done and that's what I did."

Smith's latest result is a confidence booster as she works towards several World Cups this year while Paris Olympics qualification is also on the horizon. She heads to the Qatar World Cup in March for her first international competition of the year.

"It's great to shoot the 125 on the weekend but you've sort of got to put that behind you and keep striving to go forward," she said.

Smith thanked her support team for their "endless" work along with her workplaces for their support.

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