Great Britain’s Peter Wilson fell to his knees and cried after scoring the two hits from his last two shots that won gold in the men’s double trap last night.
“It’s awesome, fantastic,” he said. His medal brings GB’s Olympic gold tally to five.
The overcast conditions and dull light matched Russell Mark’s performance, though. The Australian finished down the order, unable to find the form he’s capable of, finishing 20th with a qualifying score of 128.
Wilson had led qualifying , entering the final with a three-point advantage, but he then struggled, hitting only 45 targets and earning his lowest score in all the rounds.
However, his rivals could not capitalise, all but one of them also shooting a 45. Only Sweden’s Hakan Dahlby showed his best form in the final, racking up 49 hits and jumping from fifth to snatch the silver medal.
Russia’s Vasily Mosin won bronze after a shoot-off against Kuwait’s Fehaid Aldeehani. The leading trio recorded scores of 188, 186 and 185 respectively.
Russell Mark has confirmed that this, his sixth Olympic appearance, will be his last, and he is undecided about whether he’ll be a contender for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
He dismissed speculation that earlier controversy about accommodation arrangemetns with his wife Lauryn in the Olympic village had been a factor in his poor performance, saying he’d put that behind him long ago.
Instead, he blamed his 48-year-old eyes, which cannot pick up targets as quickly as younger ones in low-light conditions like those in London yesterday.
“It’s not an excuse, it’s the reality for me these days,” he said, adding that didn’t want to put himself through this kind of demoralising experience again.
It was not a day for top-form performances. Even winner Wilson was well below his best. Only last March, in a World Cup stage, he set a new world record for the sport with a score of 198.
Later today, the finals of the men’s 50m rifle prone and rapid fire pistol events will be decided.
Australia’s Warren Potent and Dane Sampson will line up for the rifle shoot, along with New Zealand’s Ryan Taylor, and David Chapman represents us in the pistol event.
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