Tokyo 2020: Matthew Coward-Holley wins bronze in trap shooting final

Matthew Coward-Holley won a bronze medal for Great Britain in the men’s trap shooting final, Team GB’s first medal on Thursday after a morning of disappointments.

The world and European champion was among Team GB’s gold medal hopes, but a slow start – missing three of his first 10 targets – meant he was unable to challenge the two victors, Czech pair Jiri Liptak and David Kostelecky in gold and silver respectively.

He recovered from his misses with 14 successive hits, climbing into medal contention. That run ended just as early pace-setter Jorge Orozco Diaz began to falter, with the Mexican ultimately finishing fourth after missing three shots in a row during the elimination period.

Coward-Holley eventually finished the event with a score of 33 out of 40. Kostelecky was three shots clear at that point, while the Briton had been level-pegging with Liptak. However, a miss in the 38th shot ended his hopes of progressing further – Liptak moved onto a sudden-death shoot-off with his fellow Czech, where he claimed the victory.

After the event, Coward-Holley said: “Being my first Olympic final, the first little bit is always that little bit of tension, that little bit of nerves. But you’ve just got to relax and trust yourself that you can do it. It’s a little bit of a mix of emotions. I’m a bit lost for words. It’s my first Olympics so to come away with a medal, it’s phenomenal.”

Coward-Holley provided Britain’s first shooting medal of the Tokyo Games after fellow hopeful Amber Hill was forced to withdraw due to a positive Covid test.