Nathan Hales claims gold and sets Olympic record in trap shooting final
Nathan Hales has won a gold medal in the men’s Olympic trap competition in Chateauroux. The 28-year-old from Chatham, Kent, claimed an Olympic record of 48 out of 50 to beat the Chinese silver medallist Qi Ying by four shots.
Hales, who is married to the former GB Olympian shooter Charlotte Kerwood, had earlier booked his place in the six-strong final in second place.
Despite winning a silver medal at the world championships in Osijek, Croatia, in 2022, Hales was considered less of a medal bet than his teammate, the Tokyo bronze medallist Matt Coward-Holley. But while Coward-Holley fell away over two days of qualifications, Hales came on strong to seal his place in the top six behind only Qi Ying.
Making his Olympic debut, Hales continued to show few signs of nerves, missing just one of 25 shots in the first phase of the final to rank top, one in front of his Chinese rival. Heading into the final phase in which the lowest-scoring shooter was eliminated after every five shots, Hales nudged in front by one after 35, the cut-off point at which he was guaranteed an Olympic medal.
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Jean Pierre Brol Cárdenas of Guatemala was next to fall, but such was Hales’s advantage by this point that in the 10-shot shoot-off for gold he edged further clear to win by four.