NEW ZEALAND has a new world champion who has taken on the veterans and won.

James Sullivan is now a world champion marksman in clay target shooting after winning gold in the World DTL Championships in England.

James, who lives in the Western Bay but shoots for Whakatāne Clay Target Club, had previously won the junior title and is now the youngest-ever open division champion, winning at the age of 17.

James started shooting purely for the enjoyment of it.

“I had just turned 11 when I started, so I’ve been shooting for about six-and-a-half years.

“We had a friend who had his own range at his house and after having a go, I thought ‘this is really cool’.

“We got a gun, I registered at a local club and milled around there for a while. I got better and better, and it all just went from there,” he explained.

James started to hit his stride in the past three years.

“I’ve been passionate about trap shooting, but it became really serious about three years ago and I started getting a lot better.

“Last year, I had a really good year and I won New Zealand Shooter of the Year, which was really cool.

As the adage goes, there is no substitute for hard work.

“I’ve been doing a lot of practice, shooting, and competitions – I’ve been shooting every week for the whole year.

“I’ve been making sure that I got a lot of targets in and making sure I was in the best form possible,” James said.

James narrowly missed out last year and was determined to bounce back.

“So, last year I got runner-up in the under-21s in South Africa.

“This year, I was looking really good because I was coming sixth overall, so looking really good for juniors, so I thought, ‘sweet-as’.

“The second day came around and I was sitting in third and I was like, ‘Oh ,wow this is getting pretty up-there,’ and then on the third day, I was still sitting in third going into the last 50 targets.

“I went into a shoot off, which is a tie-breaker, and I ended up winning it.

“I didn’t expect to win the world title, but it was pretty amazing,” James explained

The World Championship title has given James a renewed confidence and although he’s taking things in his stride, a future Olympic bid is on the cards.

“At the end of September, I’m going to Peru for the junior World Championships for the discipline of trap shooting but for now I’m just doing local stuff and I’m just going to train for Peru.

“Hopefully, I can shoot well, go to the right events, and get a quota place for the next Olympics in the next four years and be in LA in 2028, which is quite a high goal, but I see it as accomplishable,” James said.

-Simon Herbst