Despite struggling earlier in the qualification rounds, Steve Scott returned to form and clawed back to a strong position and finished fourth after 150 targets. He sat one behind Tim Kneale, who, at one point, led the qualification period.
After reaching the top six, Britain watched with bated breath to see if a Team GB athlete would earn a third Double Trap gold in 16 years. The Kuwaiti, Fehaid Aldeehani, who was competing as an individual due to Kuwait not being recognised by the International Olympic Committee, overcame lost targets early to finish on 28ex-30 in the semi-final. He cheered and left the shooting area prematurely, and received a yellow card for his disrespectful behaviour to the other competitors. Fortunately, the delay didn’t affect any other shooters and everyone shot each of their final pairs. This meant Italy’s Marco Innocenti went into the gold-silver shoot-off, and the Brits were forced to sudden-death against the world number one James Willett.
Tim went first and took both targets comfortably, then James stepped forward but missed one. Steve just had to hit both and Team GB was guaranteed a bronze medal, which he did so comfortably.
Tim and Steve then shared a chuckle but soon got back down to business. It would take a perfect round from Steve to beat Tim, after the Isle of Man shooter dropped two single clays. After the final, the pair embraced for a moment, but when Steve turned to the crowd, the camera caught him with his fist pumped and the bronze medallist yelled: “It feels good!”
Fehaid went on to win gold against Marco, vanquishing the demons of 2012 when the Kuwait shooter finished in the same position as Tim Kneale.
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