The shooting career of 16-year-old Morgan Hill resident Hypatia Shen, formerly of Gilroy, continues to progress. Results during the past year have marked her as one of the United States’ best and now she heads onto the international stage.
This field of shooting is a national, international and Olympic sport. Olympic shooting events comprise 15 medal disciplines across three main categories: Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun. The primary goal is to shoot and hit stationary or moving targets.
Events include shooting from kneeling, prone or standing positions and there are separate categories for men and women.
In the March USA Shooting Junior Olympics, held in Talladega, Alabama, Shen reached the finals of the Women’s 10-meter Air Rifle competition and finished sixth. That gave her a position on the Team USA Juniors squad for the International Shooting Sport Federation’s Juniors World Cup in Germany this month.
The competition at the USA Junior Olympics was open to those younger than 21, with Shen being one of the youngest.
“It was my first finals at this level and I was really nervous,” Shen said. “In the first round, everyone shoots at the same time. You get 60 shots in 75 minutes. Then the top eight move to the finals. The finals are 10 shots, but with elimination. Every two shots, a person is eliminated. You have a total of eight minutes if you get all 10 shots.”
Shooting takes place at a distance of 10 meters. The center of the target is the size of a quarter. And every millimeter of a shot outside the center lowers one’s score.
“I tried to keep the same routine for the finals,” Shen said. “As close as it is for a regular match. Get into position. Look down and focus.”
Several months prior, Shen excelled at the December 2025 Winter Air Gun Championships in Colorado Springs. She qualified for the Open Division Women’s 10-meter Air Finals and placed fourth. That competition had no age limits. For the Junior Women’s category, for women aged 21 and younger, she placed first.
Shooting has been a marquee discipline at the Olympic Games and is one of the original nine sports featured at the first Olympics, in Athens in 1896. It requires precision and focus.
“For a layman, when he sees a shooter, he thinks, there is no physical effort,” Athens 2004 Olympian Suma Shirur told Firstpost. “But in reality, there is a lot of effort. There is a lot of physical activity that is not seen from outside. Because the most natural aspect of the human body is movement.
“If I have to control the movement, hold my body steady, at the same place for a long period of time, I need a lot of muscle endurance. That needs a lot of strength. For that, you need to have good fitness.”
Shen trains extensively at home, sometimes goes to the small-bore range at the Sunnyvale Rod and Gun Club and occasionally to the Rifle Club of Sacramento.
Shen has goals surrounding specific scores to achieve, but also states she wants to simply do her best and not over-concentrate on the scores.
That is particularly true with the upcoming international event, the Juniors World Cup. The sport is emphasized heavily in other countries and there is tremendous competition.
“The Germany ISSF Junior World Cup is a very challenging match, with many of the foreign participants—particularly from China, India and Italy—having some actual Olympic-level competitors there,” Hypatia’s father Phil Shen said. “In the last several years, the U.S. Juniors participating there for the 10-meter Air Event have not made it to the finals in that match.
“While Hypatia has had a lot of success in the US junior scene, I think she has tempered her expectations for the upcoming World Cup. It is an honor to be there to represent the U.S., but her goal is to do the best she can, and if she can achieve a personal record score, that would be a win in her mind.”
Shen continues to improve and pursue her goals. In an interview two years ago, she noted goals of finishing in the top eight in Junior Olympics or Nationals. Goals are being met, and she’s now on the Team USA shooting team.
Such accomplishments entail incredible athletic skill, as the required accuracy is mind-boggling.
“For 60 shots, the maximum score is 654,” Phil Shen said. “That would be 10.9 on every shot at the bullseye. A half millimeter can separate a 10.9 score from a 10.0 score. Olympic level is 10.5 to 10.6. Hypatia has been working pretty hard. She is not quite Olympic level yet but that is her goal. She’s gotten close, 627 or 628. A consistent 630 is the goal.”
Hypatia is among the younger competitors at many of her events. In competitions such as juniors, where the age limit is 21, many other shooters are in college with more extensive experience.
“It’s kind of intimidating but I just forget that they’re that old,” Hypatia Shen said. “Basically, I like to cut out the fact that scores are being compared.”
Her current competitions and the ISSF Junior World Cup will give her valuable experience and she will continue to improve year after year. Her later goals include competing at the highest levels of NCAA shooting.
“I do want to shoot in college,” Shen said. “The top schools recruit. And there are the Olympic Trials in December 2027. Those are open to all shooters of all ages. They take two men and two women for each event.”
Shen is a rising high school junior and attends Valley Christian High in San Jose. The Shen family has lived in Gilroy since 2006 but recently moved to Morgan Hill.
Shen says that her friends and schoolmates don’t know the sport well, but know enough to understand she is an elite-level competition shooter. Shen notes they think it is cool and she is known by many as, “The shooter.”
Perhaps when resuming school this fall, in her junior year, she will be known as, “The Team USA shooter.”
