NATHAN HALES won a gold medal in the men’s Olympic trap competition in Chateauroux today.

The Chatham 28-year-old claimed a new Olympic record of 48 out of 50 to beat Chinese silver medallist Ying Qi by four shots.

Hales, who is married to former GB Olympian Charlotte Kerwood, had earlier booked his place in the six-strong final in second.

Despite winning a silver medal at the World Championships in Osijek in 2022, Hales was considered less of a medal bet than his team-mate, the Tokyo bronze medallist Matt Coward-Holley.

But while Coward-Holley fell away over two days of qualifications, Hales came on strong to seal his place in the top six behind only Ying Qi of China.

Making his Olympic debut, Hales continued to show few signs of nerves, missing just one of 25 shots in the first phase of the final to rank top, one in front of his Chinese rival.

Heading into the final phase in which the lowest-scoring shooter was eliminated after every five shots, Hales nudged in front by one after 35, the cut-off point at which he was guaranteed an Olympic medal.

Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas of Guatemala was next to fall, but such was Hales’s advantage by this point that the 10-shot shoot-off for gold saw him edge further clear to win by four.

Hales said: “The final was great and I’m so happy to get an Olympic record as well as winning the Olympics.

“I just try and keep everything as we always do and treat it exactly the same way I treat finals in training. I just push through and keep focused on what I’m doing, not on what other athletes are doing.

“It was a great support. Had loads of my family here and it was great to have them all here.”