Scottish athlete, Seonaid McIntosh, got her Olympic debut underway for the first medal event of Tokyo 2020 on Saturday 24 July at the Asaka Shooting Range, competing in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle event.
Seonaid had a solid start to her Olympic campaign, shooting a qualification score of 627.2 and finishing up in 12th place - the highest placing of any British woman in this event and only 1.3 points off qualifying for the final, with the eventual winner, China’s Qian Yang, only 0.2 ahead of that. Qian Yang shot an Olympic Record of 251.8 in the final to claim gold ahead of Russia’s Anastasiia Galashina in second, while the bronze medal went to Nina Christen from Switzerland.
Generally stronger in the Women’s 50m Three Positions event scheduled for Saturday 31st July, this was a good result for Seonaid and represents a great performance at her first Olympic Games during testing conditions - including the pressures of representing TeamGB in the first medal event and the only rifle shooter competing, not to mention the challenges faced due to COVID, jet lag and the high temperatures on the range!
Reflecting on the conditions and the pressure of her first Olympic experience, Seonaid said on the BBC website:
“I am mostly happy with how I fought through it and, while the last couple of shots weren't great, I am pleased with how I performed. I struggled a bit with fatigue and the heat.
"I just tried to focus on finding good shots and finishing the performance well. I didn't quite manage that, but I am really happy with the rest of the performance."
"I was really nervous to start with and then the nerves went down and then I was really tired," she added.
"I kind of went down again at the very end. I was really nervous for the last few shots. I was trying to keep it together, I guess."
Despite the challenging conditions and nerves, Seonaid showed her competitive spirit and high expectations of herself that has resulted in her going to these Games as a real medal contender, saying:
"If you had have asked me a year ago, I would have said this was a sighter for the 50m, but in the last year, this event has got a lot better and I knew I was perfectly capable of winning a medal.”
"I don't really know about next week. I need to process this first and know what to take forward. It's a very different event and it is about keeping that fight."
No British woman has ever won an Olympic medal in rifle shooting and her performance in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle offers a good platform as she builds towards her stronger event, Women’s 50m 3 Positions. The qualification for this starts at 12.00 Japanese time (04.00 BST) on Saturday 31 July.
Currently ranked World No. 1 in this event, it’s safe to say that Seonaid will be going in with even higher expectations, but all being well, we hope to see her competing for a medal later that day with the final scheduled for 16.00 Japanese time (08.00 BST) and we’re sure all of Great Britain (and in particular Scotland!) will join us in cheering Seonaid on.
It goes without saying that STS is incredibly proud of Seonaid, who was officially confirmed as part of TeamGB earlier in 2021 - having all but cemented her place at the end of 2019 - for not only reaching the Olympics but always giving it her all on the range. A valued member of our Performance Programme, we’re sure she is contributing just as much to TeamGB off the range and, as always, continues to be a fantastic role model for the sport and young women across the country.