Shot to nothing
McIntosh misses the target of a first medal for Team GB
BRITAIN’S first shot at a medal at these Olympics went the way of the last from Seonaid McIntosh’s air rifle on Saturday — off target. The Scot was seen as a viable top-three contender in the 10m shooting and held the possibility of getting Team GB off the mark in the very first medal contest of the Games.
However, after taking herself to the brink of qualifying for the eight-woman final in stifling heat, her 60th and final shot of the day was also her worst and left her down in 12th.
McIntosh, who will return as the favourite for the 50m three positions category next Saturday, said: ‘The last couple of shots weren’t great, but I am pleased with how I performed. I struggled a bit with fatigue and the heat.
‘If you had asked me a year ago, I would have said this was a sighter for the 50m, but in the last year this event has got a lot better and I knew I was perfectly capable of
The USA failed to win a medal on the opening day of an Olympics since the 1972 Games in Munich.
winning a medal. I don’t really know about next week. I need to process this first and know what to take forward.’
After a sluggish start across the opening three of six series of 10 shots, McIntosh launched herself from 18th to eighth in the standings heading into her final 10 attempts. On the very last of those she needed an obtainable score of 10.6 to tie eighth place, but instead fired what was comfortably her worst of the day — a 9.3 — to miss out by 1.3 points.
Asked if she felt pressurised by being Britain’s first medal hope, McIntosh added: ‘I don’t think it was a factor. My sister (Jen, a double Commonwealth Games champion shooter and London 2012 Olympian) has been in the same position and it’s not a thing you think about unless you let yourself.’
China’s Qian Yang went on to win the first gold medal of these Olympics.