Para-athletes Sean Baldwin and Phil Eaglesham travelled to the Sydney World Shooting Para Sport World Championships which took place from the 11th to the 18th of August.
Sean was competing in the SH1 events R1 (Men's 10m Air Rifle Standing), R3 (Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone), R6 (Mixed 50m Rifle Prone) and R7 (Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions). Phil competed in SH2 events R4 (Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing), R5 (Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone), and R9 (Mixed 50m Rifle Prone).
The team was supported on their journey by Ray Kane (Coach) and Julie Eaglesham (Loader/Team Support).
History was made on the second last day of competition when Phillip Eaglesham finished his R9 qualifying in 4th place out of 51 other athletes, sending him into the R9 Final. This was the first time in a World Championship final for an Irish para-athlete. Phil went on to create more history with a superb showing in the final, finishing in 3rd place and winning the bronze World Championship medal.
He has earned a quota slot for Team Ireland for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and certainly a taste for shiny medals.
Phil's amazing achievement was streamed live and can be watched back on the Paralympics Official YouTube channel here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZHwMzR_DX0
Paralympics Ireland reported on his success here - https://www.paralympics.ie/news/2019/10/18/eaglesham-on-target-for-tokyo.
All results of the event can be found here - http://results.sius.com/Events.aspx?Championship=Sydney2019WSPSChampionships20191010SydneyAUS and official photos from the event here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/paralympic/albums/
Many congratulations to the whole team who headed to Sydney and especially to the support team who are so important for these journeys.