MALTON shooter Lucy Hall looks at a note from her 11-year-old self on her bedroom wall each day to motivate herself for her first Olympic Games this summer.

Hall started shooting when she was younger as a bonding activity with her dad and grandad, as something they could all do together no matter their age.

While it began as competition between the three of them, she soon fell in love with the sport and set three goals in a task on leaving primary school - to go to the Olympics in shooting, to be sponsored by a gun manufacturer, and to win a gold medal.

With two of the three already achieved, the 20-year-old is showing that manifestation is key to achieving your goals, as she shoots for gold this summer.

“I have that note stuck on my bedroom wall so every single day I look at it,” Hall said. 

“If I’m having a bad day or need to remind myself why I’m doing it, that note is always there to keep me going.

“Since my first shot, I just fell in love with shooting. There’s no better feeling than breaking that clay into pieces.

“Going to my first Games is so exciting. Of course I want to win gold, but I look back at that 11-year-old me who wrote that note and I just want the Games to be as amazing as I thought it was going to be.”

Hall secured a quota spot for Paris in 2022 with a silver medal at the European Championships, which she followed with a World Cup gold medal a year later: her first senior championship title.

She is also involved in her family-owned gun shop when she’s not shooting herself - The Gun Room, near York.

“It’s great working at The Gun Room,” she added. “When I’m not shooting, you can find me there.

“I love to get new people into the sport so if I can help them in their quest, that’s nice. Some people come in and know who I am, and some people don’t.

“But I just really want to get as many people into the sport as possible and give them the best chance of enjoying it.”

The Team GB shooting squad.The Team GB shooting squad. (Image: David Davies/PA)

Team GB are fielding a team of six shooters, with Seonaid McIntosh, Amber Rutter, Matthew Coward-Holley, Michael Bargeron and Nathan Hales joining Hall at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, 140 miles south of Paris.

Rutter and McIntosh are two of GB’s most decorated shooters of all time with the former returning to the Olympic stage just three months after giving birth.

Hall said: “We’re seeing more women coming into the sport now, which is great because it was previously a male-dominated sport.

“When you’ve got the likes of Amber [Rutter - who has just given birth] and three of us going to the Olympics. Hopefully, young girls looking at sports to do can aspire to be that person.”

Shooting Team Leader, Steven Seligmann, said: “I am delighted that the British Olympic Association have confirmed the selection of our six shooting athletes to represent Team GB at Paris 2024.

“All six athletes continue to go on their own incredible journeys, and we are excited to see our team, which is full of potential, perform at the Games.”

Team GB Chef de Mission Mark England, OBE said: “We are thrilled to have such an impressive team of shooters representing Team GB in Paris this summer.

"It is brilliant to have Matt, Seonaid and Amber with us for their second Olympic Games, and we welcome Mike, Nathan, and Lucy to Team GB, all of whom bring a tremendous wealth of quality into this squad.

“This group of athletes are truly remarkable, both in and out of competition, and we have great confidence they can demonstrate their quality once again in Paris.”