The cold winter months may be drawing in but it’s all about next summer for our shooters as today six are officially announced as part of Team GB for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The six athletes will compete across four events in Brazil, looking to continue Team GB’s strong track-record of shooting success having won 44 medals – 13 gold, 15 silver and 16 bronze – in Olympic Games history. The team, containing four Olympians, boast numerous World, European and Commonwealth medals between them and are the third sport to join the Team GB fold for Rio after sailing and canoe slalom’s recent team announcements - bringing the current number of selected athletes to 18. "It’s fantastic to welcome these six shooters to Team GB for Rio 2016 and to see the team growing," said Mark England, Team GB's Chef de Mission for Rio 2016. “Team GB has a proud history in Olympic shooting and it’s great to see this trend continuing with the class of 2016. For each athlete to have secured their quota place with outstanding performances in major competitions is testament to the strength of the team and of the individuals we’re delighted to be taking to Rio.” So, let’s meet the team!
Age: 42 Home town: Newport Event: Women’s Skeet
Elena Allen is one of Team GB’s most experienced shooters and secured her quota spot for Rio 2016 by winning skeet silver at the 2014 World Championships in Grenada. At the same championships, Allen helped win GB’s first team skeet gold as she triumphed alongside Amber Hill and Sarah Gray.
Rio 2016 will be Allen’s second Olympic Games having competed at London 2012, finishing 12th in the women’s skeet.
Age: 18 Home town: Bracknell Event: Women’s Skeet Twitter: Amberjohill
Amber Hill is the youngest ever Skeet World Cup gold medallist and the youngest member of Team GB’s shooting squad for Rio.
The Windsor-born shooter’s debut for Team GB came at the 2015 inaugural European Games in Baku where she took gold after a thrilling final shoot-off with Italy’s Diana Bacosi. Hill then capped off her 2015 in style by winning gold at the ISSF World Cup Final in Cyprus.
Age: 33 Home town: Stranraer Event: Men’s Double Trap Tim Kneale is the current men’s double trap world record holder and is a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist from 2010, an event where he represented the Isle of Man. In the same year he won World Championships bronze in Munich.
Kneale secured a quota place for Rio 2016 with a silver medal win at the 2015 ISSF World Championships in Lonato.
32
Taunton
Men’s Trap
A former world and European Junior Champion, Ed Ling has appeared at the Olympic Games on two occasions – Athens 2004 and London 2012 - and has also won the world and European universal trap titles.
At the 2014 World Championships Ling took silver behind Slovakia’s Erik Varga, which qualified Team GB a quota place for Rio 2016. A year later Ling competed for Team GB again, this time at the Baku 2015 European Games, where he finished just outside the medal places in fourth.