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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Mark Staniforth

Nathan Hales breaks Olympic record in trap shooting to deliver third Team GB gold

Nathan Hales has won a gold medal for Team GB in the men's Olympics trap competition in Chateauroux.

The Chatham 28-year-old claimed a new Olympic record of 48 out of 50 to beat Chinese silver medallist Ying Qi by four shots.

Hales, who is married to former GB Olympian Charlotte Kerwood, had earlier booked his place in the six-strong final in second place.

Despite winning a silver medal at the World Championships in Osijek in 2022, Hales was considered less of a medal bet than his team-mate, the Tokyo bronze medallist Matt Coward-Holley.

But while Coward-Holley fell away over two days of qualifications, Hales came on strong to seal his place in the top six behind only Ying Qi of China.

Making his Olympic debut, Hales continued to show few signs of nerves, missing just one of 25 shots in the first phase of the final to rank top, one in front of his Chinese rival.

Heading into the final phase in which the lowest-scoring shooter was eliminated after every five shots, Hales nudged in front by one after 35, the cut-off point at which he was guaranteed an Olympic medal.

Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas of Guatemala was next to fall, but such was Hales' advantage by this point that the 10-shot shoot-off for gold saw him edge further clear to win by four.

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