JU students with their sights set on the World Championship

Saturday 9 November marked the start of the Student World Shooting Championship in New Delhi, India. Students Amanda Carlsson and Hannah Göransson from Jönköping University (JU) are competing in air rifle.

Hannah Göransson is in her fourth year of the Master Programme in Business Administration at Jönköping International Business School (JIBS) and Amanda Carlsson is in her second year of the Primary Teacher Programme at the School of Education and Communication (HLK). Both are from Sävsjö and competing in shooting.

“The feeling before the competition is good. I am excited to compete, especially in a new country. There has been a lot to prepare for the trip but now that everything is in order, I look forward to going,” says Amanda Carlsson.

In the Student World Championship, both will compete in the 10-metre air rifle event and Hannah will also compete in the 50-metre stand-up event with 20 shots in each of the shooting positions: kneeling, prone and standing. In addition to Amanda and Hannah, another Swedish student, Mark Binnermark from Stockholm University, will compete in Skeet (clay pigeon shooting). In total, students from 25 countries are competing in New Delhi.

“Student athletes are people with a lot of drive”

Jönköping University is certified by the Swedish Sports Confederation (RF) as an Elite Athlete Friendly University (EVL). This means that the university, as far as possible, must offer elite sports students adaptations in their studies, in order for them to succeed in their dual careers. Both Hannah and Amanda are elite sports students.

“I have been supported in my shooting endeavour, including adjusted exam dates. The teachers are aware of our efforts, which makes studying easier. We have also received support for the Student World Championships,” says Hannah.

JU has been an elite sports-friendly university since 2015, and Mona Sörman, study counsellor, has been project manager and coordinator for EVL for the same period.

“We need our role models in sport, and they also need to be given the support they need to continue with their livelihood and personal development, to have something to fall back on when their sporting career is over. In my view, higher education institutions have a great responsibility in this. Elite athlete students are people who have a great drive to devote a lot of time each week to their studies and athletic endeavours, often for a brief period of their lives, and to forego many other things during those years. They are good marketers for JU with their sporting achievements and I feel that they have made JU's staff who work with these elite sports students find flexibility in their teaching,” says Mona Sörman.

Expectations for the competition

Hannah and Amanda flew to India on 6 November. They want to shoot as well as possible and see the Student World Championship as a great experience.

“As many shooters from the world elite will participate in the Student World Championship, we have good and tough competition. Our hopes for this competition are to carry out good matches where we work on our areas of work from the trainings,” says Hannah Göransson.

“Results are always hard to predict because every competition is different and since we are both competing in India for the first time, we see this competition as a great experience that we will benefit from in the future,” says Amanda Carlsson.

Find out more about the Student World Shooting Championships.

Read more about EVL at JU.