Olympic medal for WRC star Al-Attiyah

FIA World Rally Championship point-scorer Nasser Al-Attiyah has won a bronze medal in the men’s skeet shooting final at the London 2012 Olympics.

Al-Attiyah, who competes for the Qatar World Rally Team at the wheel of a Citroen DS3 WRC, secured third place following a shoot-off with Russian rival Valeriy Shomin. The gold medal went to the defending champion Vincent Hancock of the United States. Anders Golding from Denmark took the silver.

Currently 10th in the WRC drivers’ standings, Al-Attiyah tied with Shomin with a score of 144 after hitting 23 of his 25 targets at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London. But he moved ahead after hitting all of his targets to edge Shomin 6-5 in their tense shoot-off.

Because of his participation in the Olympics clashing with reconnaissance for this week’s Neste Oil Rally Finland, Al-Attiyah’s next WRC action is scheduled for ADAC Rallye Deutschland at the end of August. Chris Atkinson is deputising for Al-Attiyah in Finland.