Scottish rifle shooter Seonaid McIntosh wins World Championships bronze for Team GB in Cairo

Scottish shooter Seonaid McIntosh has made history by becoming the first British woman ever to win a World Championship medal in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.

The 29-year-old, from Edinburgh, earned bronze for Team GB after finishing in third place in Cairo on Wednesday.

Her total score of 454.6 secured a place on the podium behind Norway’s Jeanette Hegg Duestad (465.8, gold) and Switzerland’s Emely Jaeggi (465.3, silver).

The result marks not only Seonaid’s first World Championship medal in this event, but also a triumphant return to competition after taking over a year away from the sport after Paris 2024.

Speaking to STV Sport, she said it felt “really good” to make history with a bronze medal.

She said: “It was really good, I am really happy with my performance, after taking a bit of time off. Since the Olympics last year, I had about 14 months off, and I only had about a month of training before coming out here.

“So I am really happy with how it has all gone, and to come away with something, I wasn’t expecting that.

“This competition for me was just going to be a bit of fun with very little pressure, and to find out what it is I had forgotten over the last year, and to come away with a list of things I had to work on.

“I didn’t have any huge expectations coming into the championships. Training was going well, but that doesn’t always reflect in pressure situations, so I tried not to have any big expectations.

“After Paris, I decided I wanted a shot at another Olympics. I had surgery on my hip and my jaw, and these World Championships came after that, so I had just enough time to come back for this and to get myself going again for the season next year.

“Our qualification period for the next Olympics starts this time next year, so it was nice to come back to a World Championships that didn’t mean too much, without too much pressure, and to see how it went.

“Winning a medal is a pretty cool thing, and hopefully it can inspire some more young people to get into the sport.

“British shooting is doing an awful lot at the moment to develop the sport at grassroots levels, so hopefully some youngsters might see it and want to give it a go, so I think that’s pretty cool.”

Speaking after the final, Seonaid said: “I’m really happy, I’ve just come back after over a year off, so I wasn’t expecting a medal.

“There’s still a lot to improve on, especially my sling shooting and standing, which haven’t been great recently, but it did me good today. So there’s still plenty to improve on, which is nice because it means I’ve got somewhere to go.”

Having resumed training at the start of October, she rose to the occasion on her comeback by delivering a composed and powerful performance through the final stages to secure her historic medal.

She said: “The goal now is to build towards next year’s World Championships. You’ll definitely be seeing a lot more of me.”