The youngest-ever pairing to compete at the championships, 31-year-old Chris Banfield and 20-year-old Matt Lockhart travelled to Alsfeld earlier this month to represent the Van Diemen Pistol Club, with the pair teaming up in the club event and Banfield representing Australia in the world teams event alongside New South Welshman Peter Brus.

Banfield and Brus proved a force to be reckoned with, clinching second spot in both the pistol and revolver competitions after being edged out by 1 and 4 points respectively at the hands of German duo Roman Hauber and Ralf Vanicek. 

One point again separated Banfield from first spot when he joined forces with Lockhart in the club event to add another silver to his haul.

Competing in his debut international event after taking up the sport two and half years ago, Lockhart said the experience had been “surreal”. 

“It doesn’t seem real that a couple of years ago I didn’t even know what I was doing and now I’ve gone away with Chris to another country to compete with people I’ve idolised since I started, it’s surreal,” he said.

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While Lockhart is a relative newcomer to the sport, Banfield’s shooting career started far earlier, having inherited a love for the sport from his father Graeme.

“I got into it through my dad so I’ve been here since I was about five,” Banfield said.

“Matt started two and a half years ago and I’ve been coaching Matt since he started and he’s had a very rapid climb in the sport… he’s about to start in the police force so that’ll take up his time for the next eight months or so.”

The pair ramped up their training regime in the lead-up to the championships, shooting up to 500 rounds a week across two or three sessions as well as competing in Queensland and South Australia.

A similar buildup is likely to be employed ahead of Banfield’s next targeted competitions in 2018. 

“We’ve got the nationals coming up in February next year so that’s pretty much the main qualifying for making the Australian team next year, so I’ll be having a crack at that again.

“And the European open is in Sweden next year so I’d like to have a crack at that as well.”