Shooter Jeffery targeting Paris after reaching Paralympic final

Tim Jeffery is already aiming for shooting gold at Paris 2024 after finishing seventh in the R5 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH2.

Jeffery made his first major final since 2016 having qualified fifth and his score of 146.5 saw him knocked out second.

His ParalympicsGB teammates Ryan Cockbill and James Bevis missed out on the final, finishing 18th and 19th respectively in qualifying.

While in the R3 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1, Matt Skelhon agonisingly missed out on qualification to the final by just 1.5 points.

Jeffery was situated fifth after ten shots, just 0.4 shy of the bronze medal positions, 10.2 the lowest he fired in a very consistent opening round of his Paralympic final.

He then shot a 10.1 and 10.2 to see him drop down the order to seventh, with top qualifier Andrea Liverani the first person eliminated. 

The Brit would be the next to go, two 10.5s not enough to save him, as Serbia’s Dragan Ristic took the gold in a new Paralympic record of 255.5. 

“Overall I am very happy with it. I am moving in the right direction and for the next Games I shall be going for gold medals across the board,” said the 25-year-old

“This sport is about endurance; it is not a show up and win medals sort of sport. Time is on my side too.

“I was feeling a little nervous before the final, but I was happy and felt good to be able to walk away knowing I had done my best.

“It has been such a great experience here in Japan. The venue and village are lovely and the support staff everywhere you go are truly incredible - they can never do enough to help.  The organisation has been spot on.”

Jeffery had earlier qualified in fifth for the final with a score of 636.7 while Cockbill and Bevis ended within 0.1 of a point between them with 632.2 and 631.2 respectively. 

In the R3 mixed 10m rifle prone qualifying, Skelhon, who won gold in the event at Beijing 2008, scored 631.2 to finish in 16th place, eight places away from the final qualification spot. 

The Peterborough shooter’s highest score came in round 3 where he shot 106.1 but a 104.1, his lowest, in round 6 ended his hopes of qualifying. 

Jinho Park of the Republic of Korea set a new qualification Paralympic record, scoring 638.9 points to top the standings before missing out on gold by 0.1 to Natascha Hiltrop of Germany. 

Skelhon said: “I am so gutted.  I felt confident coming into today but the last few weeks of training I haven’t been on point and I shot today around the level I have been shooting. I really hoped it would all click on the day, but it just wasn’t on. 

“The training had been going well but it seemed to dip just at the wrong time, but I really wish I had a reason.   

“This morning when I woke I was nervous; I think maybe due to a lack of competition.  Once I got in and got the line I thought I was ok. 

“The 50m training has been going well so I need to put this behind me to get ready for Sunday and hope I can bounce back.  But it’s hard as I have never been so upset.”