English skeet shooter, Amber Hill, earns Team GB an Olympic quota place for the summer’s Tokyo Games after a spectacular win at the ISSF World Cup 2021

Amber Hill has made a stunning return to international competition, winning gold in Women’s Skeet at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) New Dehli World Cup after a shoot-off with Kazakstan’s Zoya Kravchenkoi.

Hill and Kravchenkoi tied on 51 in the final, but 23-year-old Hill emerged victorious after holding her nerve throughout the shoot-off, obliterating four clays to her opponent’s three.

Hill’s final score is made all the more impressive by it being her first international competition of the year after months of postponements, interruptions and cancellations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She also equalled the current Olympic Skeet world record in the qualifiers with a score of 124/125.

The world number five’s stellar performance has secured another Olympic quota place for Team GB in the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games.

Speaking after her win, Amber said: “It’s been one hell of a day. I honestly didn’t expect it to go as well as it did. It just feels awesome. To shoot 124 and equal the world record in qualifiers and then go on to win the gold medal has been amazing.

“We’ve taken so many precautions with masks and endless sanitising but it’s been so worth it. It really feels like all the hard work has paid off.

“I’d just like to say a massive thank you to all the support team at British Shooting for making this possible despite how challenging it’s been this year. Hopefully I’ve now secured my spot on the plane for Tokyo and this is just the start of the journey.”

Hill, who is sponsored by Eley Hawk and Beretta, added: “I’d also like to say a huge thank you to Beretta, Eley Hawk and the National Lottery for helping me do what I do best.”

Now with an impressive array of titles and medals to her name, Hill became the youngest ever Skeet World Cup gold medallist when she was just 15 at the ISSF World Cup series. She took gold at the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, and again at the ISSF World Cup Final in Nicosia, Cyprus, that same year. She made her Olympic debut at 18 as the youngest member of Team GB’s shooting squad back at Rio in 2016, where she made it to the semi-finals and finished sixth. Another gold was added to Hill’s collection at the ISSF World Cup in Malta in 2018.

It’s safe to say, we can expect to see more great things from this gifted young athlete.