A silver medal at the 2022 World Championships (Shotgun) in Osijek, Croatia for Nathan Hales has earned Great Britain a spot in men’s trap to go with the women’s skeet and women’s trap places at Paris 2024.
The top four athletes would qualify in both men’s and women’s trap. On the men’s side, Matthew John Coward-Holley, Nathan Hales, and Aaron Heading all represented GB. In qualification, the top eight (of 157) would go through after 125 shots were fired each, and Hales led the way for GB, in a four-way tie for third with 121 hits. Qatar’s Rashid Hamad SA al-Athba, Peru’s Alessandro de Souza Ferreira, and India’s Bhowneesh Mendiratta also got 121. In the shoot-off, de Souza Ferreira managed two hits while al-Athba, Hales, and Mendiratta only got one, meaning the Peruvian was third while there would be another shoot-off for fourth. Here, Mendiratta got three hits while al-Athba and Hales managed two: again there would be a shoot-off for fifth while the Indian would take fourth. Hales took the shoot-off 2-1 to come fifth in qualifying. Meanwhile, Heading was in an eleven-way tie for seventh alongside Kuwait’s Abdulrahman al Faihan, Nathan Steven Argiro of Australia, Joao Azevedo of Portugal, Clement Borgue of France, Ioannis Chatzitsakiroglou of Greece, Spaniard Alberto Fernandez, Croatian brothers Anton and Josip Glasnovic, Driss Haffari of Morocco, and Owen Robinson of New Zealand. In the end, Borgue took the shoot-off with eight hits, but Heading hit seven to take the final place, ahead of Chatzitsakiroglou (five), Robinson (four), Azevedo (three), Anton Glasnovic, Fernandez, Josip Glasnovic (two each), Argiro (one) and al Faihan (zero). Meanwhile, Coward-Holley came 91st with a total of 112.
In the ranking matches, where the eight shooters would be split into two groups of four, with the top two in each proceeding to the medal match. After fifteen shots, a shooter would be eliminated, after twenty-five we would have our top two. Hales was in the first match alongside Borgue, de Souza Ferreira and Chinese Taipei’s Yang Kun-Pi. Hales hit fourteen of his first fifteen shots to lead, with Yang and Borgue both on thirteen and de Souza Ferreira eliminated on twelve. Hales hit eight of his next ten to win the match on twenty-two with both Borgue and Yang on twenty. In the other match, Heading was up against al-Athba, American Derrick Scott Mein, and Mendiratta. However, he only hit eleven of his first fifteen shots, behind Mein (fifteen), Mendiratta (fourteen), and al-Athba (twelve), getting eliminated.
In the medal match, Hales would face Mein, Mendiratta, and Yang. After fifteen shots, fourth would be eliminated, after ten more, third would be, and then after ten more we would have our winner. So, after fifteen shots, it was Mendiratta to get knocked out on thirteen hits; Hales, Mein, and Yang all managed fourteen. Hales and Mein then hit a perfect next ten while Yang could only manage nine and was eliminated on twenty-three. However, Hales missed two of his next nine while Mein went perfect, and with a winner mathematically decided, Mein took it on a Golden Hit 33-31. However, Hales still had a silver medal and had qualified a spot at Paris 2024 for Great Britain.
On the women’s side, and Georgina Tamsin Roberts, Kirsty Hegarty, and Lucy Charlotte Hall represented GB; Hall was ineligible to earn an Olympic spot having already done so at the European Championships in Larnaca. That said, all three entered qualifying, but Hall was the highest-performing Brit, coming thirteenth with 115 hits. Roberts managed 114 and came seventeenth, while Hegarty was in 44th with 109.
So the takeaway from the trap in Osijek was a silver medal and men’s quota spot for Nathan Hales, who said “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, but I’m very happy and a little bit emotional.” He has every right to be happy with that performance. The championship continues with the Skeet (7-9 Oct), while the next chance to see the trap shooters in action is the 2023 European Championship in Leobersdorf, Austria.
GB Games 