A young shooter from North Kelsey in Lincolnshire is hoping to reach the Olympic squad for the Rio de Janiero games in 2016 after
a successful clay pigeon season.
Jack Wilkinson, 19, believes he has had his best season of shooting and is in high spirits ready for the Olympic trials next year.
“This season seemed harder work, but I had my best results so far this year”, he said.
Jack competes in the under 21 classes as well as the A and AA classes, which are the toughest classes in the shooting circuit.
His notable success this season was finishing with a bronze medal in the under 21’s world championships, narrowly missing out on silver after losing by one shot in a shoot-off.
“The world championships was my best result of the season and I also got my best score of the season in that competition shooting 189 clays out of 200 which I was really pleased with”, he said.
In the close season Jack continues to practice his shooting skills as he is the head keeper for a local shoot. He is also a member of a game shooting syndicate which allows him to continue practising.
“The guns never out of my hand to be honest. Clay shooting stops at the end of October and I then switch to shooting game until the end of January and then I go back to clays when the season starts again in February”, he said.
At the moment Jack doesn’t receive any government funding but is able to manage through training on the land his family own and the travel expenses he receives.
“I get travel expenses when I shoot for England and Great Britain and I have a sponsorship deal with Eley who help me with my cartridges”, he said.
By Daniel Clark