OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: Hammond and Huckle content with finishing places

By Sean-Paul Doran, Sportsbeat, London 2012

GREAT Britain’s Jonathan Hammond is pledging to learn from his Olympic experience after his London 2012 dream ended with failure to make the men's 50m rifle prone final.

HUCKLE HAPPY: Young shooter pleased with Olympics despite failing to 50m rifle prone final

Hammond recorded a score of 593 and missed the shoot-off by two points as he finished in 17th place while teammate James Huckle also failed to make the eight-man final, ending in 29th place with 591.

And 31-year-old Aberdeen-born Hammond, who finished 34th in Beijing, admits that while he was content with his score at the Royal Artillery Barracks, he could have performed better.

He said: "For the conditions it's not a bad score. It was really tricky out there between the whole atmosphere and the environment and the wind. It's a solid score and I'm fairly happy with my performance.

"I probably made a few mistakes in there and got the wind wrong a couple of times, but I'm only two points away from the final. It's all part of the learning curve and something I can build on."

Belarusian Sergei Martynov won the final with a world record score of 705.5 after posting 600 in the qualification round.

The British pair failed to emulate the heroics of teammate Peter Wilson, who won the gold medal in yesterday’s double trap final, as they failed to secure the eighth place needed to progress.

And 21-year-old Huckle believes that he will learn lessons from his London 2012 campaign as he admitted he lost the momentum after a great start.

He said: "Conditions-wise, I think it was one of the better days I've seen on the range for the wind. I knew at the start of the match there were going to be some pretty good scores.

"I started off with a 100. I thought it was a great way to start. Then there were just a few shots where it didn't go quite where I thought it would.

“I could feel my technique slipping a little bit and I was like, that's fine, just stay calm. Unfortunately you make a few mistakes at this level and you get punished pretty quickly.”

© Sportsbeat 2012