A Lockerbie-based shooter has been crowned British Ladies Air Pistol Champion.
Jess Liddon, who has recently moved back to the region to benefit her training programme, won the title at the British Airgun Championships in Surrey.
Following a break from the sport, Jess, who represented Scotland at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, returned to competition last year and initially started with her favoured discipline of sport pistol.
However, a lack of competitions saw her switch to air pistol, which will expand her skillset and qualification chances as well as providing skills transferables for sport pistol.
On day one of the championships, Jess topped the women’s aggregate competition with the highest qualifying score, a mere three points from her personal best.
The national title was up for grabs on day two and matched her 565 (ex 600) score from the previous day to qualify in first place for the final.
The top eight finals progressed to the 24 shot, knock-out final, all starting on zero.
Stage one of the final sees the competitors shoot two five shot series, each in 250 seconds. By the end of the two series, Jess had a narrow 0.1 point lead to take into the second stage, where the knock-outs began.
Shooting individual shots in 50 seconds, the lowest scoring athlete after every two shots is knocked out until the final two remain. With clapping, cheering and even jeering, the remaining two athletes shoot two final shots to determine the gold and silver medals.
Scoring two near perfect shots of 10.7 in the last two shots, Jess stamped her authority to claim the gold medal, finishing a large 4.6 points ahead of silver. Finishing on a final score of 238.2, not only gave Jess the British Ladies Air Pistol title but also saw her claim a new Scottish record.
Jess’ season is now almost in full swing and next weekend will see her travel back down to Surrey to compete at the first Great Britain selection trial with the goal of selection to compete in the World Cup series held over the summer.
