Aedan Evans, Jess Liddon, Vikki Walls and Tom Diggle flew to Serbia as part of a British team sent to compete in the pistol and rifle events at the Novi Sad Grand Prix held over 21-25 August 2019.
Quite a few of the athletes found the strength sapping heat challenging but on his first day of competing Aedan shot very well, scoring 570 with a final string of 97. Alas, one more point would have seen him in the final. Aedan then went on to compete in the mixed team event paired with Sammy Darling.
Jess shot a below average 10m qualification but looked to refocus ahead of the Sport Pistol the following day.
With temperatures soaring to 35 degrees plus at the Novi Sad 25m Range the next day, many of the competitors from the cooler countries found the heat a struggle!
Jess represented the GB team in the Sport Pistol competition which involved 30 shots precision and 30 shots rapid. Her precision got off to a shaky 92 but then recovered with two 97s to deliver a 286 out of 300. The rapid phase started at 14.30 at the height of the heat and Jess delivered a 285. Her total score of 571 (13x) won a place in the final where Jess finished in 8th place.
In the rifle event Vikki Walls put in a solid performance while Tom Diggle, shooting his first international match, shot a new PB despite the circumstances and heat he found himself in.
Well done to both Aedan, Jess, Vikki and Tom for competing well in challenging circumstances.