Challenging themselves

In the deepest forest near Differdingen, not even a kilometre from the border to France, it smells like New Year's Eve. But it's not fireworks that shatter the silence of the forest ‒ band, bang ‒ every few seconds. No, it smells like gunpowder – more precisely smokeless powder – because people are indeed using guns. Around 50 shooters from Luxembourg, France, Belgium and Germany have met here for the Grand-Prix du Luxembourg in clay pigeon shooting on the field of the Club des Tireurs Fosse et Skeet Differdange (CTFS). Spread over two shooting ranges, the participants rotate from position to position, where they wait next to each other for their turn. Only one shooter shoots at a time ‒ the handling of weapons requires discipline. Each shot is announced by a curt but loud "Ah", with which the participants launch the voice-activated underground slingshots that catapult "pigeons" ‒ orange frisbees made of resin ‒ in a random direction, where they are to be shot with two-shot shotguns. Each participant shoots at 100 targets in one day, and each hit gives one point, regardless of whether the first or second shot hits. Whoever scores the most points wins.

It is quiet between the shots, there is hardly any talking. Not only because most people wear earmuffs, but also so as not to disturb the concentration of the participants, explains Lena Bidoli in a break between two rounds while we watch the other shooters. So far, the 28-year-old is satisfied with her hit rate ‒ an average of about 19 out of 25 clay pigeons per round. "But it's only noon and that can change very quickly. Once you get out of rhythm, you can quickly miss a few shots at a time…and ruin the whole day. That's why it's important to be fully focused throughout the day." Anyone who lets one or two missed shots upset them is out of place here: it's a sport for cool heads, "and a constant battle with yourself", says Lena, who has been practising sport shooting for just over half a year and is trying to join the national squad as currently the only woman: "It's almost meditative. I always had concentration problems, especially in school, and here I don't feel that at all. You're just in the moment."