Isle of Man shooter Kathryn Holden marked her first Great Britain selection with a strong showing at the Nordic Shooting Championships in Estonia recently, narrowly missing out on medals in both her individual and pairs events.

Competing in the 10m air pistol, Holden opened with a score of 550 in the individual qualification, comfortably seeing her through to the final in sixth place.

She went on to finish fifth overall in a tightly contested final.

There was more to come in the mixed team event, where Holden was paired with Scotland's Hamish McDonald.

Holden shot 281 out of 300, taking the GB pair to a combined 558 out of 600 to qualify for the final.

She went on to produce a strong series in the final, opening with 51.2 from her first five shots and averaging 9.883 per shot across the match - the highest individual average of any shooter at the point the GB duo were eliminated.

The pair ultimately finished fourth, edged out of the medals by only 1.9 points.

The individual and pairs medals were shared between Norway and Sweden, with Norway taking gold, Sweden claiming silver, and a second Swedish pair rounding out the podium in third.

It was Holden's first GB selection and her first time competing outside the British Isles. She thanked those who supported her, in particular coach Owen for his guidance.

Holden said: ‘I was really happy with how I shot, particularly for my first time representing GB.

‘I was really proud to represent Great Britain.’

The trip home proved eventful. The team bus failed to arrive for a 3am departure, leaving coaches to scramble for alternative transport at short notice.

To compound matters, an airline error meant Holden and another team member had their plane tickets incorrectly transferred and were refused check-in, resulting in an unplanned overnight stay in Poland.

Holden praised British Shooting for their handling of the situation, who arranged a hotel and new flights at short notice.

The island shooter will next represent Great Britain in October at the FISU World University Shooting Championships in Taiwan.

Rifle Association annual general meeting

The Isle of Man Rifle Association will hold its annual general meeting at the Sinclair Range in St John’s on Thursday, September 17 at 7.30pm.

All members of affiliated clubs are welcome to attend.

For more information about Isle of Man Rifle Association, visit its official website which can be found at https://www.iomra.net/

Alternatively, follow the ‘Isle of Man Rifle Association’ page on Facebook for upcoming competition fixtures as well as results from recent events etc.

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