Timothy Kneale (born 16 October 1982 in Douglas, Isle of Man) is a Manx sport shooter who specializes in the

double trap Double trap is a shotgun shooting sport, one of the ISSF shooting events. Participants use a shotgun to attempt to break a clay disk flung away from the shooter at high speed. The layout of double trap shooting is similar to that of trap shoot ...

. He is the current world record holder for the event, having scored 148 out of 150 at the 2014 ISSF World Cup meet in

Munich, Germany Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Apart from his world-record feat, Kneale has won two medals in a major international competition, a silver at the 2015 World Shotgun Championships and a bronze as a representative of the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

team at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...

Delhi, India Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Career

Born and raised in the

, Kneale spent most of his childhood as a sporting enthusiast, representing the nation in cricket and also captaining the men's under-nineteen rugby team. After suffering a fractured leg which left him unable to play rugby at age eighteen, Kneale took up shooting more seriously, and eventually tried his hand at double trap. Although he began the sport, as a 16-year-old teen, in an international meet, Kneale set his shooting history as a member of the British national team in 2002. At that time, he helped his fellow shooters secure a bronze medal in a team event at the ISSF World Championships in

Lahti, Finland Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia, Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is on ...

. Kneale's marksmanship prominence, however, did not occur until 2010, when he claimed his first individual double trap medal at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, prevailing over 17-year-old junior world champion

Asher Noria Asher Noria (born 20 November 1992) is an Indian shooter. He has won several national and international medals for India. He is the only shooter in the world who has won the double trap event of the International Shooting Junior World Cup for t ...

in a shoot-off 6–5 for the bronze. At the 2014 ISSF World Cup meet held in

, Kneale attained a massive score of 148 out of 150 targets to establish a new world record for the men's double trap, but fell short to Jeffrey Holguin of the United States in a bronze-medal shoot-off 28–26. Following his tremendous world-record feat, Kneale had been given the honor to lead the Isle of Man delegation at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. There, he finished twelfth in the

with 120 clay pigeons, and failed to advance to the final, missing a chance to improve on his third-place effort four years earlier. The 2015 season witnessed a medal redemption for Kneale, as he earned a silver in the men's double trap at the World Shotgun Championships in

Lonato Lonato del Garda (before 1 July 2007 simply Lonato; lmo, label=Eastern Lombard, Lonad, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, northern Italy. Lonato is located about halfway between Milan and Venice, on the southwes ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, losing the title to Russia's Vasily Mosin in the gold medal match 26 clays to 29. With his runner-up finish, Kneale has been selected to represent

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

at his Olympic debut in

Rio 2016 ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

. Tim Kneale has won the Isle of Man's first medal at 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia in the double trap shooting event. He finished with a score of 70 in the final - four targets behind Scotland's David McMath with India's Ankur Mittal third.

References

External links

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Team GB Athlete BioProfile – British Shooting AssociationAthlete Profile – Isle of Man Commonwealth Games Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kneale, Tim 1982 births Living people British male sport shooters Shooters at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for the Isle of Man Commonwealth Games silver medallists for the Isle of Man Trap and double trap shooters People from Douglas, Isle of Man Shooters at the 2015 European Games European Games competitors for Great Britain Shooters at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic shooters for Great Britain Commonwealth Games medallists in shooting Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games