Olympics: Swirling wind blows shooter McIntosh's hopes off course

Jen McIntosh felt she 'couldnt catch a break' in qualifying

The 25-year-old from Edinburgh, coming off a solid showing in the air rifle where she ended up 15th despite a gun malfunction, went in with high hopes of making an impression on her second outing of these Olympics.

But, with the winds swirling on the shooting range in Deodoro, McIntosh’s hopes were blown off course.

“I just couldn’t catch a break,” she said. “Kneeling was really hard. I had one really bad shot. In prone, I had a couple of bad shots and I was getting moved around by the wind, which is even more frustrating as it’s supposed to be one of my strengths.

“In standing, it was much the same. The wind was difficult. One of the hardest things was just how fast it was changing. A strong wind is not that hard to shoot in, but when it’s changing and flickering like that it’s tough. On a day like this, when it’s windy, you can’t assume anything and you have to fight for every point. I feel like I did that, so that’s a positive to take away from it.”

Together with dad and coach Donald, McIntosh will jet back to the Capital to watch the rest of the Olympics on TV rather than hanging around for the Closing Ceremony in nine days time. But she is likely to return soon to her training range at Meadowbank and take aim at adding to her Commonwealth medal haul on the Gold Coast in 2018.