19-year-old pistol shooter talks path from Brookline, Mass. to Paris Olympics

A 19-year-old pistol shooter from Brookline, Massachusetts, will compete in her first Olympic Games this summer in Paris.

Ada Korkhin began learning how to shoot at American’s oldest active gun club in Woburn when she was 9 years old.

“My dad brought me here because there is a Junior Program, so I went one day and I thought it was a lot of fun, so I kept coming here,” she recalled. “I was doing a ton of other sports. I did soccer, I did gymnastics, I did a little bit of ballet, and a little bit of piano, so this was very different than what I have done before and obviously it’s a very unique sport.”

It wasn’t long before Korkhin competed in her first national competition.

“When I first started shooting it was a little bit awkward for me to say because there was, there is sort of a stigma around it, so it was kind of difficult for me to say a lot of the time,” said Korkhin. “I had to preface this with it’s a small gun, we’re really safe, there’s a bunch of rules about it.”

Safety rules are paramount at the range, dictating when and how she could handle the weapon. Korkhin said from a young age, the sport taught her about responsibility and discipline.

“It’s a big responsibility to obviously be holding a gun of any size, especially as a young girl and another thing is the sport takes a lot of discipline to keep up with practicing or remain focused. I think that’s true in a lot of different sports. And so, I think those are really valuable lessons that my dad taught me, my coaches taught me as I was growing up.”

Her father, Yakov Korkhin, built a target with a pellet trap, so that she could continue training with an air pistol at home, about five times a week. She said there wasn’t really a specific point when she decided to pursue the sport as a potential career or path to the Olympics -- she simply enjoyed competing and exploring how far she could go in the sport.

She competed in her first international competition the summer after she graduated from middle school.

“It was in Germany and that was a really great experience,” said Korkhin. “It was very surreal obviously going to such a big competition. Whenever I take a step forward in my shooting career, I don’t really comprehend how big it is, so I think that was also beyond my comprehension. I think I ended up shooting a personal best there which was really cool.”

Korkhin continued to have success competing internationally. Her recent competition highlights include a gold medal at the 2024 Championship of the Americas (CAT) Games in Women’s 25m Sport Pistol Team in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a bronze medal from the 2023 International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) Junior World Championship in Women’s 25m Sport Pistol in Changwon, South Korea.

Throughout her journey, Korkhin has used the same custom .22 pistol since she was a child. It’s decorated with stickers from equipment checks from her various competitions.

“Since I’ve started, I’ve only had one gun, so I started with this one and here with it now, hasn’t failed me,” she said.

Women’s 25m pistol shooting competitions have two phases: precision and rapid fire. She said one of the misconceptions is that there is a lot of action. Her motions are not quick, they are steady, as she works through her shot process that includes controlling her breathing. Korkhin says she likes the mental aspect of the sport.

“I’m not a very athletic person, so I like that I can still compete in a sport that requires more mental focus than physical strength. It allows me to kind of reflect on my mental state and really redirect my focus or focus on something specific and I think that helps me not only in the sport, but kind of everywhere in my life.”

She said she was so focused during the Olympics Trials this year, that she did not realize what place she was in and that she had qualified for the Paris Games.

“I think that was very helpful for my mental state when I was competing because I didn’t put as much pressure on myself to perform a certain way, I could just trust what I had been practicing and what I know,” said Korkhin. “My parents and my coach told me after I finished the final that I was going and I didn’t believe them at first, but after that I was just so happy. I was in shock, I think I still am.”

Sitting in the Woburn range where it all started, she said knowing she is going to her first Olympic Games is surreal.

‘I’m just really proud to come from this range. I know a bunch of my other teammates have come from this range and they have also done great things, so I’m really proud to be from here.”

When Korkhin is not training in Massachusetts, she trains and competes with the pistol team at Ohio State University.

“My coach Libby Calahan, she was an Olympian, now she coaches me and I think she was a really big inspiration for me because I think she was at the time the oldest Olympian before she retired and she went to the Olympics around four times so that was just incredible for that opportunity for her coaching me. She was definitely someone I look up to,” said Korkhin. “I hope to continue going to the Olympics. I am definitely going to continue competing for as long as I can, the great thing about this sport is that you can compete for a long time, so that’s what I plan to do.”