Norris finished second in the ladies team event alongside Emalene Munro and Renae Birgan, with the trio hitting 499 targets across eight rounds to claim silver for Australia.
Upon realising her team was second after the final round, Norris said she was thrilled and surprised at the same time.
“It was amazing, I couldn’t believe it at first,” Norris said.
“We went through and checked the scores again to make sure.
“The three of us were expecting to go over and try our best and see how we’d go. It was a learning experience, it was our first Worlds together, but we ended up doing well enough to come home with second which we were really happy with.”
At just 18 years old and competing at the Worlds — the pinnacle of sporting clays events — Norris shone on the global stage.
She hit all 25 of her targets in her final round of the team events, becoming just one of two female competitors to do so at the competition.
“I was really proud and excited, it was just amazing,” Norris said of her accomplishment.
“The first two pads (shooting stations) I didn’t really notice, but after the third pad I realised I only had one more to go and I was clean so far.
“The last pad was actually pretty hard so I was very happy that I was able to shoot them all.”
Sporting clays differs considerably from trap and skeet shooting, with the discipline designed to replicate hunting scenarios — targets can appear from any distance or angle and they vary in size too, rather than the standardised angles, distances and targets in trap and skeet.
The unpredictability makes sporting clays more tricky than trap and skeet, with perfect rounds far harder to achieve.
Competing against some of the top shooters in the world, Norris said she was nervous at first, but said she soon settled in.
“It was really exciting. Nerve racking, but it was a really good experience.
“I was disappointed in my first day, just because of how nervous I was. But I settled in and got better each day, which I was happy with.
“I improved and my last round was a perfect round so I was really happy with that, it was a good way to finish.
“It was exciting being there and being in the team. It was the first time I had tried out for it, but I had always wanted to be in it because of my Mum."
Her mother, Kelly, was also a top sporting clays shooter.
She is a former Australian national champion and she competed at the world championships for six years, winning a gold medal.
Norris said her mother was her shooting inspiration, adding that Kelly was the reason she wanted to make the Australia team at the worlds.
Kelly also competed with Birgan during her career, with Bianca also getting to shoot alongside her this year.
Norris also competed in the ladies singles, finishing 22nd overall with 163 hits.
Her teammate Birgan — an 11-time Australian Field and Game national champion — came just shy of earning another world championship medal, finishing fourth in the singles after hitting 175 targets.
Norris has been shooting for four years and said Birgan had been a fantastic mentor for her.
“Renae has helped me and trained me up to get closer to her level, it is insane how good she is,“ Norris said.
“She has been very, very helpful with everything and wants me to do the best that I can.”
Norris thanked not just Birgan, but her family, Rich River Golf Club and all the others who helped support her.
“Rich River Golf Club supported me financially to go to Italy. They reached out and said they wanted to help me, they were great. I was very shocked but very, very grateful,” she said.
She also thanked the Outdoor Trading Company and her two home clubs, Echuca Moama Field and Game and Geelong Sporting Clays.
Prior to the world championships, Norris finished second at the 2022 Australian FITASC Grand Prix in March.
She also finished first overall in the ladies category at the Golden Rivers Classic and she was the overall winner at the Yarra Valley School Championships.
Looking ahead, Norris has a pair of big events coming up, while also keeping an eye on next year’s world championships in Hungary.
Norris will compete at the sporting clay nationals in Western Australia in September, and the field and game nationals in Wodonga in November.
After her strong performance in Italy, Norris said she would be aiming to simply do her best at the upcoming national championships.
“I’ll see how I go. I always hope to do well, but the main part of why I shoot is just to have fun, enjoy myself and do the best I can,” she said.
9°C