Congratulations to Jen McIntosh and Seonaid McIntosh who helped Great Britain win the team bronze in the women's 50m rifle prone at the World Shooting Championships in South Korea.
Jennifer and Seonaid McIntosh and team-mate Zoe Bruce, who was making her debut in the competition, came third with 1850.6 points. Germany won gold with Denmark taking silver at the event in Changwon.
Seonaid McIntosh then went on to win the Women’s 50m Rifle Prone World Champion, the following day. Germany’s Isabella Straub and Slovakia’s Pesk Demjen pushed Seonaid all the way to the last shot, and there was just 0.6 of a difference between bronze and gold!
That meant the Scottish athlete held her nerve right to the very end and shot a perfect 10.9 for last shot to win by 0.2!
Speaking after the result, Seonaid, said: “It feels pretty amazing. I don’t think I’m really quite aware of what it is I’ve done yet though to be honest!
“I think winning a team medal yesterday helped me because I wasn’t so nervous today plus I learned from my match yesterday to allow me to put in a better performance today.
“There were some really good women in the field, so it was a tough competition. I just tried to work on making today’s performance better than yesterday’s and didn’t really think about the outcome.
With just a few shots remaining, Seonaid’s fantastic form took a slight hit when she shot a score of 9. But despite being relatively new to competition at this level, she showed the composure to take a break and go into her last shots focussed and ready to do what it takes to win gold.
She explained: “I was really quite nervous for my last 4 shots. I had a 9 for my 56th shot and took a break and then when I got back into position I was aware that I must be doing alright, but I thought that I was maybe vying for the bronze. I just tried to do what I’d done for the rest of the match and it turned out alright.
To round off the competition Seonaid McIntosh then went on to win an Olympic Quota Place for Team GB after finishing fourth in 50m Rifle 3 Positions, at the Championships.
On top of her Gold and Bronze Medal earlier in the week, Seonaid has also broken or equalled three British Records while competing in South Korea, twice as part of a team and once individually.
Her qualification score of 1175 in 50m Rifle 3 Positions equalled the current record. While earlier in the week she broke the 10m Air Rifle Women’s record as part of a team with Hannah Pugsley and her sister Jen McIntosh, when they shot a combined 1861.4.
Her final record was part of a team with Katie Gleeson and again sister, Jen, when they shot a combined 3471 in 50m Rifle 3p.
Speaking after securing a Quota Place for Team GB, Seonaid said: “I’m really happy to have won a Quota Place this early, although at the same time I’m a little bit disappointed not to have won a medal. But the job was to get the quota and I’ve done that plus have the bonus of the Prone medal from earlier in the week, so all-in-all a successful trip.
"It’s certainly going to make my final year at University a bit easier now that I have a quota place!
“The Prone result did help me a bit as it proved to me that I did belong at this competition. But it was the elimination match yesterday that really helped me because I learned what I did wrong to make it better today.
“I’d like to say a massive thank you to all my sponsors and funders that have supported me to get to this point. I couldn’t do this without the financial support I receive from the National Lottery, UK Sport and Heriot Watt University as well as the fantastic all-round support that I receive from Sport Scotland, Scottish Target Shooting, British Shooting and Winning Students.
“Also, a huge thank you to the wonderful people who provide my kit, Edinkillie Sport Services, Kurt Thune, Grünig and of course Eley, thank you so much for your continued support.”
Articles and Pictures Courtesy of British Shooting