Scotland’s Jen McIntosh is set to compete at her second Olympic Games after becoming one of six shooters officially selected by the British Olympic Association to compete for Team GB next summer at Rio 2016.
Competing in the 50m rifle three positions, Jen secured the Rio 2016 quota place for Team GB with a 4th place finish at the European Championships held in Slovenia in July. Despite qualifying the place it was not guaranteed that she would be the athlete to fill it, but now the Edinburgh based shooter has confirmation that she will be on the plane to Rio.
It is the next step in an already glittering career and, at the age of just 24, Jen has plenty of time to add to her accolades. With two gold, a silver and two bronze she is already Scotland’s most decorated female athlete in Commonwealth Games history, the two medals she won at Glasgow 2014 taking her past the tally of mum Shirley, who last week was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.
With Jen’s place at the London 2012 Olympics automatically allocated with GB’s host nation status, she was delighted to earn her spot in Rio outright and becomes the first British female rifle shooter to compete at a non-home Olympics since the 1980s. She will take valuable experience from the pressure situations of being one of the first British athletes to compete in London and a home nation favourite at Glasgow 2014.
“It was so satisfying to know that all the hard work has paid off,” said Jen. “Making the team is a great honour but my goal is now to perform well. After my experience at London 2012 and Glasgow 2014, I feel like nothing will phase me now.
“I always hope to inspire people to take up the sport and doing well in Rio will hopefully go some way to doing that. It’s a great sport for all and I really hope it can show our academy athletes that success is possible with hard work and determination.”
Four of the six shooters will go to Rio having previous Olympic Games experience with Tim Kneale and 18-year-old Amber Hill set to make their Olympic debuts next summer.
Hill, who won gold at the inaugural European Games in June, became the youngest ever Skeet World Cup gold medallist in 2013 and recently took gold – alongside Steve Scott – at the ISSF World Cup Final in Cyprus.
Hill will be joined in the women’s skeet event by three-time World Championship medallist Elena Allen, while Scott and current world record holder Tim Kneale are selected for the men’s event.
Two-time Olympian and world silver medallist Ed Ling will compete in the men’s trap. British Shooting still have the European Championships in Hungary in February 2016, where two more Rio quota places are up for grabs.
The announcement of the six shooters takes Team GB’s total number of selected athletes for Rio 2016 to 18 from three sports following the announcements of eight sailors and four slalom canoeists.
Team GB Chef de Mission Mark England said: “It’s fantastic to welcome these six shooters to Team GB for Rio 2016 and to see the team growing – with shooting now the third sport to officially select athletes for the Games next summer.
“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.”
The athletes selected to Team GB across the four events are:
Amber Hill: Women’s Skeet (born: Windsor, home town: Bracknell)
Elena Allen: Women’s Skeet (born: Moscow, home town: Newport)
Ed Ling: Men’s Trap (born: Taunton, home town: Taunton)
Jen McIntosh: Women’s 50m 3 Positions (born: Edinburgh, home town: Edinburgh)
Steve Scott: Men’s Double Trap (born: Lewisham, home town: Battle)
Tim Kneale: Men’s Double Trap (born: Douglas, home town: Stranraer)