Paris 2024 shooting: All results, as Team GB’s Nathan Hales takes men’s trap gold with new Olympic record
British shooter Nathan Hales has won men’s trap gold in a new Olympic record at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on 30 July.
In his first outing at the Olympic Games, world record holder Hales stole the show with a spectacular performance that made him the first man from Britain to win gold in the men’s trap event since 1968.
Hales hit the target with 48 out of 50 shots, blowing the previous Olympic record of 43 out of the water.
“It was very tight. I just stuck to my routine and followed my process. I do some sports psychology work, so I stuck to my breathing and trusted myself. I didn’t realise it was an Olympic record until someone mentioned it,” he said.
“It’s the result of a lot of hard work and training. I was just trying to knock them down one at a time. I wasn’t worrying about the score.”
People’s Republic of China’s Qi Ying took the silver medal with a final score of 44 after a close battle with the Brit. The two were either tied or separated by one point for much of the competition, but it was when Ying missed the 34th and 35th shot that Hales began to pull away and establish a lead, eventually finishing four points ahead of the silver medallist.
This will be the first medal of any colour in the men’s trap event for People’s Republic of China at the Olympic Games.
Guatemala’s Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas took the bronze medal with a score of 35, making him the second person from his country to ever win a medal at the Olympic Games, and the first Guatemalan in the sport.
“I’m so excited. If I talk too much I’ll begin to cry. It was very hard and very hot. This is a great thing for my country,” he said after taking the bronze.
Australia’s world number two James Willett was the first to be eliminated from the final, taking sixth place, followed by USA’s Derrick Mein (5th), then Sweden’s Rickard Levin-Andersson, who took fourth.
Shooting: Men's trap final podium
Gold: Nathan Hales, Great Britain
Silver: Qi Ying, People's Republic of China
Bronze: Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas, Guatemala