Jonathan first started shooting at the age of 9 at Ardvreck School in Perthshire where he learned to shoot under Tim Verlander, and by 13 he had won the Scottish U18 Championship. Jonathan went on to join Bon Accord Club in Aberdeen and also continued at Glenalmond School. At the age of 16 years old he joined the Scottish and British Junior squads and began competing internationally. Jonathan's first international success was at the age of 17 when he won the World Junior Championship in Barcelona in Prone Rifle. He continued shooting at Leeds University under direction of Alistair Allan in both Scottish and British teams and after graduating took up a shooting scholarship in the USA at West Virginia University. After three years away from the sport from 2004, Jonathan began training again in 2007 and finished the year with 4th place at the European Championships in Prone and a Quota place for the 2008 Olympics. Janathan has had a good start to the 2008 season with a 5th place finish at Rio World Cup."
Did you know?
- Jonathan currently lives and works in the USA where he is the Head Coach for the West Virginia University rifle team.
- Jonathan has a Bachelors Degree in Geography and Masters in Sport Management
- A keen golfer, Jonathan plays off single figure handicap, he also loves watching and playing other sports such as football (Man Utd fan!) and tennis and of course the Olympics every 4 years.
Relationship with ELEY
"Eley is the first private sponsorship I have managed to obtain in my Olympic quest and I can’t think of a better sponsor to have. I am obviously delighted to be associated with Eley and appreciate everything they have already done for me throughout my career ever since I was a teenager. Eley has proved to be the world leader in .22 ammo over recent years and have really taken their product to a new level over the past couple of years. With almost all the shooting equipment manufacturers being European it is also a pleasure to have a world leader in our sport from Britain and that makes it more special to have them as a sponsor."
