World title to Te Puke clay target shooting teen James Sullivan

Te Puke's James Sullivan, 17, is the youngest person to ever win the International Clay Target Shooting Federation World DTL title.

Hot shot James Sullivan wasn’t really aiming to be a world champion.

But the Te Puke teen, is back in New Zealand after becoming, at 17, the youngest winner of the International Clay Target Shooting Federation World DTL title in the UK.

After winning the silver medal in the junior section of the world championship in South Africa last year, he was hoping to go one better.

But in a sport where everyone competes together, whatever their age, after day one of three, he began to realise the overall title was a possibility.

“[At first] I really just wanted to win the juniors,” he says.

He finished day one in sixth place overall.

“I thought, ‘I’m tracking well, the scores aren’t really high, I might be looking at even a placing, getting a medal’, so I was ‘okay, sweet’.”

Shooters score three points for hitting the target with the first barrel, two for hitting it with the second, and take aim at 100 targets a day.

By the end of day two, James was up to third place overall.

“I was, ‘okay, this is getting pretty real’.”

After the first 50 targets on day three, the field was culled to the top 50 shooters who the had 50 more targets. On the final target of the first 25 of those, the second placed shooter missed completely.

“So that put me into second place by one point.”

James was then perfect in the second 25, putting him into a 25-target shoot-off with England’s Daniel Price.

“In those 25 targets, he missed his fourth target out and I just had to keep calm and shoot that round and I did. I shot it perfectly and beat him by three points.”

Before the world championship competition, there had been other events at the Bywell Shooting Ground in Northumberland.

“The scores weren’t great so I thought ‘that’s a good precursor of what’s going to come’.”

The New Zealand team at the International Clay Target Shooting Federation World DTL Championships in England.

The conditions played into James’ hands.

“It was raining and cold and windy as well - it wasn’t very nice to shoot in and that’s the main reason why I did so well. For a lot of guys, that sort of puts them off, but I enjoy shooting in crappy weather.”

He says it was an amazing feeling to know he had won the overall title.

“How do I describe that?”

Dad Ross says it is hard to quantify the achievement and that winning the title at 17 is “out the gate”.

“Generally winners are in their mid-30s. It’s going to be hard to beat.”

James was disappointed with silver last year, and vowed to improve.

“Mentally I’ve got better, being able to control my emotions, just staying calm.”

He also has a new gun that is smaller and lighter and suits his style more.

“I was just really determined to do better.”

At the end of September James is going to Peru for the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) world championships. ISSF is the Olympic discipline that utilises quicker targets.

Olympic selection in 2028 is a goal.

“I just really have to go hard for the next four years because it’s not easy to qualify for the Olympics.”

Closer on the horizon, James will get to defend his title in New Zealand as the next International Clay Target Shooting Federation World DTL Championships will be in Christchurch in 2026.

James is the third New Zealander to win the world title after Colin Waghorn (2008) and Jonathan Beddis (2014). The next world championships will be held in Christchurch in 2026.