Ben Llewellin: Champion skeet shooter targets Olympic dream
- Published
Ben Llewellin is the son of two-time British Rally champion Dai Llewellin
Welsh skeet shooter Ben Llewellin is hoping to make his Olympic dream a reality after the best season of his life.
The 28-year-old earned European and World Championship gold in the mixed pairs with Amber Hill last year.
The Haverfordwest shooter also took European individual bronze.
Llewellin is now determined to defend those titles in 2023 as well as earn a quota place for Paris 2024 - his first Olympic Games.
"The goal of winning medals at both the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics is what gets me out training in the wind and rain, which is probably most days in Wales," he told BBC Sport Wales.
"I've ticked the box on CWG so now I need to tick the box in the Olympic Games."
Llewellin won silver at Australia's Gold Coast Commonwealths in 2018, but his event was not present in Birmingham last summer.
"The Commonwealth Games is such an exciting event to be able to represent Wales, so when that got pulled it was almost as if the main target for that year had just been wiped off the table," said Llewellin.
"I was bit gutted not to have the opportunity to represent Wales again."
Despite the disappointment of not being able to compete at a 'home games', the extra time allowed Llewellin to fully prepare for the European and World Championships, where he had fruitful returns.
"The individual medals are the ones that give you the satisfaction of all the hard work you've put in," he said.
"When you win a team medal it's almost like a different element of satisfaction. It means two or three of you have really come together and put in a performance as a joint effort on the day."
Ben Llewellin and Amber Hill won mixed team skeet gold at the shooting World Championships in Osijek, Croatia
The Welshman credits a change of gun last season to his improved performances.
"I did a few competitions at the start of the year and it was very much just getting a little bit of a feel for things," said Llewellin.
"By about middle of the year it sort of clicked, the scores were coming along nicely, shortly followed by plenty of medals which is what we're all after."
Now Llewellin turns his attention to a new season as he looks to continue his momentum.
He will be shooting in the individual skeet at the first World Cup event of the year in Rabat, Morocco, while his Welsh compatriot Georgina Roberts goes in the women's trap event the following week.
"There's been a massive amount of focus on peaking at the right time so I think it's part of putting all the work into good practice now," Llewellin added.
The 2024 Olympics quota places are available at the European Games in the spring, as well as the European Championships and World Championships later in the year.