Mcintosh: ‘It’s just not worth it any more’

Former European and Commonwealth champion Jen Mcintosh has retired from the sport at the age of 27, revealing a “difficult decision” was enforced by lack of desire to keep sacrificing for the sake of her dreams.

Statistically Scotland’s most decorated female athlete at a Commonwealth Games with five medals, Mcintosh drew a blank at this year’s edition in Gold Coast, finishing a lowly ninth in the air rifle. And although she bounced back to land her first-ever global medal with a team bronze at July’s world championships in Changwon in the company of younger sister Seonaid, Mcintosh will call it quits without fulfilling her ambition of an Olympic prize, despite making the British teams at both London 2012 and Rio 2016.

“I have achieved a huge amount over the last ten years and I am incredibly proud, but I would be lying if I said I had achieved all I ever wanted,” she said.

“I’m not even sure I managed to accomplish all of what I was capable, nor fulfil the potential I believed I had.

“But over time, circumstances change and we have to reconsider what it is we really want from life and if the cost of chasing a dream is truly worth it. For me, the price has become too steep and the rewards no longer high enough in value to warrant paying it. Hard as it may be, it is time to call it a day.”