Katelyn Abeln
Air Pistol
Date of birth:
4/9/2001
Hometown:
Douglasville, Georgia
College:
The Ohio State University
Biography:
Katelyn Abeln got into the sport through her local 4H club where she started shooting BB guns and learning about firearms safety. Soon after her dad created an air pistol team for her and a few local kids to shoot on. The first time she shot was on a makeshift target at the back of a CrossFit gym. She instantly fell in love with the sport.
Katelyn competed in her first USA Shooting Junior Olympic Championships when she was 12 and hasn’t stopped competing since. She picked up sport pistol when she was 15 and now shoots both guns. She made her international debut at the Meeting of the Shooting Hopes in Czech Republic in 2017.
At the 2022 Championship of the Americas, she won her first international gold medal in Women’s 25m Sport Pistol and an Olympic quota for the U.S. in the event for the Paris 2024 Games.
She was most recently crowned 2023 National Champion in Women’s 25m Sport Pistol and has her sights set on Paris 2024.
Katelyn recently graduated from The Ohio State University, with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health, where she competes on the school’s pistol team for both guns. She is currently working on her master’s degree at the university while she competes for a final year.
Competition Highlights:
- 2023 USA Shooting National Championship: Gold, Women's 25m Sport Pistol; Bronze, Women's 10m Air Pistol
- 2022 CAT Games: Gold, Women’s 25m Pistol; Gold, 25M Standard Pistol Mixed Team; silver, 25m Pistol Women’s Team
- 2022 USA Shooting Pistol National Championships: Gold, 25M Sport Pistol; bronze, 10M Women's Air Pistol
- 2021 ISSF JR World Championships: Silver, Women's 25m Pistol Team
- 2018 CAT Games: Gold, Women's Team Sport Pistol
- 2018 ISSF JR World Championships: Silver, Women's 25m Pistol
- 2017 USA Shooting Pistol National Championships: Gold, 25m Sport Pistol
- 2017 USA Shooting National Junior Olympic Championships: Gold, 25m Sport Pistol