Shooter Seonaid McIntosh ‘heartbroken’ after leaving without a medal

TOKYO: Seonaid McIntosh was left “heartbroken” after the world number one missed out on a place in the women’s 50m rifle 3 position to leave the Tokyo Olympics empty-handed.

McIntosh, 25, arrived in Japan as one of the favourites in her two events and was a candidate to win Britain’s first medal of the Games when she began the 10 metre air rifle competition last Saturday.

But having missed out on that final with a 10th place in qualifying, the former world and European champion could only manage 14th in qualifying in her premier event, the 3 position, on Saturday morning with eight reaching the final.

“I’m a bit heartbroken, it did not go as I hoped,” the Edinburgh shooter said. “It was not dreadful I guess, I was close to making the final but a lot of it got lost in a few ways and a few places. Some of it was amazing but it was not enough.”

Having dug herself into a hole early on, McIntosh got herself back into contention in the final round but could not sustain it. “I think I already knew there was no way I was getting in there, I was up against the time at the very end and was close to running out of it,” she said.

“I was struggling with the wind, sometimes it’s a wee bit tricky wind-wise. Some of the girls just shoot right through it but I am a little bit more cautious with stuff like that. Today it was back and forth and a bit tricky.” McIntosh, the daughter of Scotland’s 1994 Commonwealth champion Shirley and fellow shooter Donald, said she felt the lack of competition during the pandemic had left her rusty. “I have shot better than that before but I have had one competition since the end of November 2019, so I can’t really complain with how I have gone,” she said. “I feel like today was a day when I needed more match experience but I just haven’t had that.”

Earlier the pairing of men’s trap bronze medallist Matt Coward-Holley and Kirsty Hegarty missed out on a place in the mixed team trap final, coming 10th in qualifying with only the top four pairs advancing.