This week, Pembrokeshire has a new sporting champion at the highest level as Ben Llewellin representing Great Britain produced a perfect performance to become European Champion in Olympic Skeet Clay Pigeon Shooting and to fend off the challenge of Europe’s top marksmen, he needed to shoot a perfect score of 125, which means he had to hit all 25 clays, the name given to the discs fired out of two automatic machines, called ‘traps’.

 
Ben has long been regarded as one of the top competitors in the world after achieving a silver medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games and continuing that standard before he achieved another silver medal in the 2024 World Cup in Cairo.

 
On this occasion the European Championships were held at Chateauroux, in the Val de Loire region of France, which played home to all the shooting events for the most recent Olympic Games, held in France – where Ben sadly missed qualification by a single clay, after being tipped as a possible winner before the qualifiers.


 

Immense concentration – and a world record-equalling score

 


But there was to be no mishaps this time as Ben achieved his ‘perfect score’, which becomes the joint World and European record which could be matched, but never beaten by anyone else, as he fended off a strong challenge from Tommy Cassandro (Italy), who had to settle for the silver medal ahead of a number of other world-ranked opponents left in Ben’s wake.
 
Competitors must have immense concentration because they are required to shoot their double-barrelled shotguns from eight ‘stations’ situated at equal intervals around a ‘half-moon’ semi-circle, and when the participant calls ‘pull’ the clays are launched in ones or twos, of differing height and trajectory depending on the station, and since the gun has to be held no higher than the waist until the traps are released it is estimated that every clay needs to be hit within roughly 0.3 seconds to 0.7 seconds – so imagine the focus that requires over an extended period.

 

Great family support

 
When news came through of his success, no-one was more delighted than Ben’s family at their home in Rudbaxton, who have all been involved in sport at some time, with dad Dai a famous rally driver who drove all round the world was twice winner of the British Open Rally Championship, in 1989 and 1990 – and was the winner of the ‘Welsh Sports Personality of The Year’ as his efforts were recognised, as they were more recently when he was the proud recipient of the Sport Pembrokeshire ‘Lifetime Achievement  in Sport’ award.
 
Ben’s mother Helen competed in three-day eventing up to Welsh standard and sister Thea has done really well in the equestrian world, representing Wales.


Older brother Luke is also a talented shooter who represented Wales in Australia when he was 16 and so Helen had to go with him because he was too young to hold a licence - and younger brother Tom seems intent on joining his father in motor sport, having already driven for Weir Rallying in RAC events.


And finally, there’s Ben’s fiancée Nuala, who is responsible for providing the excellent photographs we are using today!
 

And finally . . .

 
Since winning his gold medal, there has been further success at Chateauroux because he was joined by Mitchell Brooker-Smith and Aaran Eccleston in the team of three event where they came away with a bronze medal, and now Ben returns home with his coveted gold medal, knowing it is another giant step forward to gaining entry to the next Olympics – and the chance of more success there too!

 
Bill Carne and Gordon Thomas here at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk have followed Ben’s Olympic Skeet Shooting journey for over a decade now and have been lucky enough to watch him in practice at Rudbaxton, where the speed of reaction is unbelievable – and we wish him even greater success in the future!