Alison Weisz Becomes The First U.S. Woman To Win A Rifle World Title Since 1979

Ali Weisz competes for the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit on Dec. 9, 2020.

Alison Weisz made her Olympic debut as a shooter last summer in Tokyo.
On Friday, the 27-year-old from Belgrade, Montana, took the next step when she won the women’s 10-meter air rifle event at the 2022 ISSF World Championship for Rifle/Pistol in Cairo. In doing so, Weisz became the first U.S. woman to win an individual world title in a rifle event since 1979, according to NBC Sports.
Not only that, Weiss also secured the U.S. a spot in the Olympic Games Paris 2024. 
Weisz was able to hold off China’s Huang Yuting, 16-14, in a tight battle for gold. It was a matchup where neither woman could take control, and the world title came down to the final series of shots. 
In the race-to-16 format, each shooter earned two points for winning a series and one point each for a tie. Weisz took the lead a few times, but Huang brought the final back even each time, clawing back to 9-9 early as well as 12-12 later. 
It was Weisz’s turn to bring the score level at 14-14 late in the match, and she managed to win the final series to clinch the title. In her only previous world championships appearance in 2018, she finished 66th.
An active-duty member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit since 2020, Weisz posted her first international victory at the 2019 Pan American Games, then two years later had a solid showing in her Olympic debut, where she finished sixth in the mixed team 10-meter air rifle and 14th in the women’s 10-meter air rifle competition. 
Earlier this year, she won a bronze medal in the ISSF World Cup in Cairo. Back in Egypt this week, Weisz finished first in the qualifying round with a total score of 633.6. In the ranking match, she did enough to beat out China’s Zhang Yu, the eventual bronze medalist, to earn a spot in the gold-medal match.
By reaching the final, both Weisz and Huang secured their countries spots for Paris 2024.