An eight-strong team of Scottish athletes competed at the Grand Prix of Liberation in Pilsen, CZE, last week, with two further Scots in attendance as part of a team from British Shooting. Held annually as part of the celebrations to commemorate the liberation of the city from Nazi occupation by US forces at the end of the Second World War, this event always attracts a substantial and very high standard of entry from teams across Europe and beyond.
In the Men’s 50m Prone Rifle Neil Stirton shot an excellent 627.8 in the qualification round, which placed him third and secured a place in the final. A tough battle, with the majority of the eight finalists trading places as the event unfolded saw Neil stay in the hunt almost all the way to the end, taking the Bronze medal after 22 shots had been fired.
In the Women’s 10m Air Rifle, Jen McIntosh shot 418.0 to take second place in the qualification round, but was eliminated early in the final, taking seventh place. In the Women’s Prone event Jen went on to take 6th place with 622.3 and as part of a GB team with England’s Katie Gleeson and Lina Jones won the Silver medal in the Women’s Prone Team with a new British Team Record.
In the Women’s 50m 3P Rifle, Jen was third with an excellent 589 - just one point off her own British Record - placing third in the qualification round, while Seonaid McIntosh shot a Personal Best of 584 for 11th place. Jen and Seonaid combined with Katie Gleeson to take a second Team Silver for GBR, raising the British Team Record by a massive 31 points.
In the 3x20 Final, Jen fought back during the Prone section from a slow start in the Kneeling to pull herself out of danger of an early elimination, and then shot excellent Standing to climb up the leader board, taking the individual Bronze.
Jen, Seonaid and Neil move on to the ISCH competition in Hannover this week where they will be joined by five Scots in the Pistol events and two more Scots in the Rifle events, with the ISSF World Cup in Munich the next target the following week.
Report and Pictures by Donald McIntosh