This time last year, she was struggling for form, competing as a junior in an open world cup event.

Now, she is preparing to compete in her first world cup as an open competitor in San Marino on Friday and has being building considerable form.

“(Last year) I shot really quite bad and everything went a-wire. It was pretty tough at the time,” Smith said.

“It was a bit of a wake-up call for me. Now I’m a lot more mature and I think I’m in a better spot.”

A training camp with Olympic gold medallist Suzy Balogh and bronze medallist Adam Vella proved just the tonic for Smith, who has been producing some of her best shooting in recent months.

“After I went to the camp, it was a turning point for me,” Smith said.

She finished sixth in the junior world cup championship in Italy and was the only female trap shooter to shot the benchmark score of 71 at Sydney earlier this year.

While she missed out on Olympic selection this time around, Smith she said was halfway through an eight-year plan to feature at the 2020 Olympic Games.

This week, however, she will get a taste of competing against Olympic-level athletes at the world cup.

“It’ll be a good opportunity to go to it and really enjoy it,” she said.

“My training has been going really quite well at the moment; I feel I’m in a good place with my shooting.

“You can’t focus on the outcome, you can only take it round by round, target by target.”