WILLETT HELPS AUSTRALIA DOMINATE

Shooting may not have been in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games this month, but local James Willett has not stopped turning heads on the international stage.

Willett has helped Australia’s Shotgun Team dominate the Trap Mixed Teams event and pick up a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup in Korea last month.

The mixed team of Willett and Penny Smith shot an impressive combined score of 146 out of a possible 150 targets to secure a top qualifying position, both shooting at 75 targets each.

Australian teammates Catherine Skinner and Thomas Grice shot 143 out of 150, finishing second in qualifying and securing an all-Australian gold medal match.

After the first two series of 10 targets, both teams were tied before the eventual winners proved too strong winning the gold medal six points to two.

Twenty-six-year-old Willett was “really happy” with his performance in Korea. When asked what it was like shooting in a medal match with teammates, all members laughed when Willett jokingly commented: “No VAR (Video Assisted Referee) and no timeouts!”

In the Men’s Trap event Willett finished in 18th position with a score of 118/125, narrowly missing shoot off to make the final where 120/125 was the cut off.

The gold and silver medals in Changwon further cemented the Australian athletes’ strength in the trap mixed event, resulting in medals at all four ISSF World Cups this year.

The latest medals added to the gold medals won by Willett and Laetisha Scanlan in Azerbaijan, bronze won by Skinner and Willett in Italy, and the silver and bronze medals won by Willett and Scanlan, and Mitch Iles and Smith in Cyprus.

A few weeks prior to heading off to Korea the Australians returned home in June from a long stint in Europe where they travelled from the ISSF World Cup in Italy at the end of April to Croatia for some training, then travelling to France to train prior to competing in a ISSF Grand Prix event in Granada, Spain and then competing at the World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.

During the big trip away, Willett enjoyed success. He won Bronze with Catherine Skinner in the Trap mixed team event in the ISSF World Cup in Italy. At the ISSF Grand Prix in Granada Spain he was part of the trio from Australia who claimed the silver medal in the Trap Men’s Team event.

In the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Willett just missed the final in the individual with a score of 118/125 where 120/125 made the cut.* Scanlan and Willett came away with the gold medal in the Trap mixed teams event which concluded their trip away in Europe.

Willett has recently qualified first for the ISSF World Championships in Men’s Trap where the event will be held in Osijek, Croatia from September 22.

“This is the next big competition I am now working towards with another selection event to be held in Melbourne on the weekend of the 10th/11th of September,” the currently ranked No. 11 in the world in Men’s Trap said.

Willett also hopes a submission to the Australian Commonwealth Games Committee to have shooting reinstated for the 2026 Games in regional Victoria will be successful.

“I take this opportunity to thank my local sponsors CMCU, Yarrawonga Toyota, Kennedy Builders and Hargraves Secured Investments. The support is very much appreciated.”