Cohen shoots his way to a second world title

At an age when many sportsmen have long since called time on international competition, South African shooter Joel Cohen, 74, is getting better at it. Three years after becoming world champion in Thailand, Cohen successfully defended his title at the largest IPSC Shotgun World Shoot ever held, in Corinth, Greece.  

Cohen returned home with two gold medals, winning the individual grand senior title and helping South Africa claim team gold in the super senior category. He was also honoured with carrying the South African flag at the competition’s opening ceremony. 

Cohen has been shooting the shotgun for about 36 years, having started when a friend invited him along one day to come and see what it was about.  

In 2023, he won the Grand Senior Open category at the 2023 IPSC Shotgun World Shoot in Thailand, and now he has successfully defended his title in Greece.  

The IPSC shotgun competition isn‘t conventional clay pigeon shooting. Competitors move through courses involving obstacles and barricades and shoot at different targets under time pressure. Their performance combines accuracy and speed, rather than simply counting how many targets they hit. A South African competitor at the 2026 event described stages as testing the shooter’s ability to perform under pressure as quickly as possible.  

More than 300 people competed in the Open division, 277 in Standard, 172 in Standard Manual, and 162 in Modified, with 363 senior-category competitors overall. 

Over the six days of the competition, Cohen was unsure whether he would keep his title or not after not getting off to the best start. However, as the days went on, he made slow and steady progression to win the title.  

“It was quite an amazing feeling because I don’t think anybody in our sport has done it before – successfully defending a world title. I dedicated the three years in between to preparing in all kinds of ways. You exercise, you look after your health, you train. It’s something you build towards, so it’s difficult to explain exactly how it felt. It was quite amazing,” he said.  

“The most challenging part was having such a poor start on the first day. I was lying fifth after that day, so I had a lot of catching up to do, and I couldn’t afford any errors going forward.”  

Being able to represent South Africa, as well as being its flag bearer, means a lot to Cohen.  

“It’s always a big thing to represent your country. You wear the colours, people back home recognise you, and you become recognised by international competitors as well. It’s not something you can just buy or get. It’s a real honour,” he said.  

Being chosen as the flag bearer was a big surprise.  

“At each international competition, the South African team members get together and select someone to carry the flag. I was also the flag bearer in Thailand, and you don’t really expect to be selected twice because it’s an honour that is usually passed on,” he said. “When they selected me again, it was a total shock. The reason they gave was that I was the only South African gold medallist in the shotgun competition. So I got it for a second time, which was a surprise. I really didn’t expect it,” he said. 

Cohen also helped the South African team win the gold medal in the super senior age category.  

“You don’t really know what’s happening until the very end. There are four members in each team, but only the top three scores count towards the overall team standing. I came second within our team, so my score contributed towards our victory,” he said.  

Cohen would like to compete in the next ISPC competition in 2030.  

“I’m 74. It’s an achievement for someone like me. Health permitting and everything being equal, I’d love to take part again. I don’t expect to do as well because I understand that young people are coming onto the scene all the time. But that’s the goal,” he said.