Paris Olympics 2024: Shooting hope James Willett misfires in trap shooting bid

Leading Australian marksman James Willett has cut a dejected figure in the Chateauroux sunshine after misfiring badly in his bid to fire his way to an Olympic medal.

On a baking Tuesday afternoon at the Olympic range, 260km distant from Paris, the 28-year-old quickly wilted early in the six-man final, missing three of his first six clays, and being the first to be eliminated.

His sixth-place finish was a huge disappointment for the man from Yarrawonga on the Murray River as he had qualified in brilliant fashion in the morning, missing just two of his 125 targets to rank him the third-best in the field.

But the 15-time World Cup medallist, nicknamed the “Green Machine”, quickly spluttered in the final, missing two of his first five targets to immediately leave him in last place.

With the sixth-placed shooter after 25 clays being the first to be eliminated, Willett could afford no more mistakes but his shoulders drooped once he missed the first target in the next batch of five as he knew that spelt disaster for his medal hopes.

Things got no better, so that he was comfortably the first competitor to be eliminated, having missed six of his 25 shots. None of the other five missed more than three.