My name is Christopher Jackson, I am 16 years old from Canberra, Australia. My archery journey started at just 9 years old when I first tried archery. From there my parents started taking me to my local club to do the come and try sessions every week, before I eventually joined the club. Since then I have been shooting for around 6.5 years and have developed tremendously.
I competed in my first youth nationals in 2019. Since then I have won countless national medals in the youth age groups and hold many national records. I participated in my first Australian open in 2022, where I came away with a bronze and silver medal in the teams and mixed teams events. This was a pivotal moment in my career as it showed that I could be competitive not only in the youth divisions but also against the best in Australia in the open division.
I represented Australia for the first time in 2023 at the Oceania Championships where I won two gold and one silver medals. I followed this up later in the year when I represented Australia again at the 2023 youth world championships in Limerick, Ireland. Both of these events have gained me valuable experience which will help me in all future events and opportunities. 2023 has been a year of putting myself out of my comfort zone, learning, and new experiences. I am now feeling more prepared than ever to continue pushing to compete in larger tournaments and in the open division.
Currently I am working towards moving up into the open national squad, and to qualify for Olympic trials. I am looking forward to the next few years as I aim to be more internationally competitive and continue to represent my country more frequently.