Gold for Holden at Junior Airgun International 2023 

Success for Team Isle of Man at international tournament

The Isle of Man has returned home with one gold, two silvers, a bronze, and a number of personal bests from this year's Airgun Junior International competition. 

Joshua Holden won the 10m air pistol match with a superbly assured final which he controlled from start to finish. 

A 50.1 in his first series of five shots set the tone and he went on to finish on 236.0, which is a higher score than the current men's Commonwealth Games final record. 

Wesley Reed again demonstrated his class in the air rifle competitions bringing home a silver medal in the Grand Prix event and then a bronze following the main match final. 

Kathryn Holden competed in both the women's 10m air pistol and the women's air rifle target sprint.

In the air pistol Grand Prix she massively improved her personal best score to 545, 2 points off the medals. For the target sprint race Kathryn ran really well to finish as the first female in her heat and 6th place overall.

In the team events Josh and Kathryn were paired together in the air pistol and achieved the same score as the teams in 3rd and 4th - inner tens then had to be used to split the teams and IOM missed out on the medal match by one centre ten.

Wes was even more unfortunate in the 10m air rifle team. After having qualified for the medal match in third place his teammate was unable to attend the final so they had to default on the opportunity to win bronze.

A special mention also to Myles Taylor who has recently taken up air rifle shooting; he competed in the 50m prone rifle events and helped his win the silver medal.