BATHURST trap shooter Michael Coles may not be part of the Australian team which will head to the London Olympics later this year, but next month he will be competing alongside a host of gold medal hopefuls while wearing his national colours.
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Coles will travel to the World Cup to be held at Lonato, Italy, an event which many of the world’s trap shooting stars will be using as part of their Olympic warm-up.
While Coles is making to trip as Australia’s minimum qualification shooter and as such cannot make the final, he is nonetheless excited at the prospect of facing the best in the world.
“The Australian officials chose to give our Olympic athletes that event off, so what they did is choose the shooters ranked below them to attend,” Coles said.
“I am the fourth member of the Australian side, so I’m a minimum qualification shooter or MQS, I’m not actually in the top three. I am still going to be competing at the World Cup, I just can’t win or be in the final, I am going for experience.
“They have not done it very often in the last few years, but Australian selectors can send a fourth or fifth team member for MQS to get experience.”
It will be the second time Coles has headed overseas to represent his country, having been part of the junior men’s team which contested the Shooting Sport Federation World Championships in Germany in 2010.
The goal for Coles, who is currently ranked ninth in Australia for trap shooting, is to try and shoot a score of 113 from 125 targets.
“I’ve shot 113 before, but to be eligible for the World Cup you have to had shot a 113 at an overseas event,” Coles said.
“The experience I got in Germany in the 2010 World Championship will help. I know what to expect with the set up and know the way the event will be structured.
“All the main shooters in the world will be there, the shooters who will be at the Olympics will be using this as preparation. While I am an MQS I am still in the regular draw, I still shoot 125 targets.”
Coles carries some strong form into the event, having reached the final of the Australian single trap shooting titles in January with a score of 116.
He reached the final of an Australian Cup event in Adelaide and missed out on the top six at the second Australian Cup event by just two targets.
As well as competing in an Olympic quality field in the Italian event, which runs from May 3-4, Coles gets to shoot at a top class range at Lonato.
“The range at Lonato is 40 minutes east of the capital in Milan and is one of the biggest shooting ranges in the world,” he said.
“It has eight Olympic layouts for trap and in Australia ranges have three maximum.
“It is a European range, so it will be very flat and it has got a big wall in the foreground to help with visibility, they cover it in shade cloth.”
Coles will fly out to Italy on April 28, the 21-year-old keen to learn as much as he can.
