Burrows secures world-record Junior Olympics win

Brian Burrows is now 20 years old, so this is his last year competing at junior-level trap shooting. His junior-level finale at the Junior Olympics August 23-24 in Colorado Springs not only gave the Fallbrook resident a win in his final youth competition but also saw him set a national record and tie a world record.

“I really wanted to come out and shoot my best,” Burrows said. “I tried really hard for that.”

Burrows hit 148 of 150 targets to tie a world record. The competition included a final shoot-off round of 25 targets for the top six competitors after the first five rounds, and in those first five rounds Burrows hit all 125 targets to set a national record.

“Everything just seemed to go my way,” Burrows said.

The shooting competition was the first for Burrows since the Olympic Trials in March. Burrows had entered the second and final session of the Olympic Trials in third place and needed to overtake one of the shooters ahead of him to earn one of the two berths to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Burrows endured a disappointing performance at the final Olympic Trials session. “I had some gun problems the second trial and didn’t compete as well as I had hoped,” he said.

The desire to recover from his Olympic Trials showing as well as the fact that the Junior Olympics would close out Burrows’ junior career was on his mind as he practiced for the August event. “I really wanted to just come out like a ball of fire, so I practiced really hard,” he said.

The practice paid off during the Junior Olympics competition at Fort Carson. “I had never shot 125 straight,” Burrows said. “I moved the gun real good.”

Burrows shoots with a 12-gage Perizzi shotgun. The targets are approximately 35 to 40 meters away.

“I was working on it real hard,” Burrows said.

Burrows was the only competitor to make all 125 shots in the first five rounds. “It was amazing,” he said.

Burrows was also pleased with his national record. “It was pretty cool to do that,” he said. “To be on the list of people who have been great in my sport, it really makes me excited.”

The second-place shooter after five rounds hit 120 of the 125 targets.

Burrows shot 23 of the 25 targets in the final round. “I think I just shot behind two of them,” he said.

His 148 hits out of 150 targets matched the previous world record. “I’m happy with that, too,” he said. “I wasn’t disappointed with that at all.”

Burrows noted that hitting 23 of 25 targets constituted a good performance, especially in a final round. “I put so much into the match the first five rounds,” Burrows said. “I was mentally exhausted.”

Burrows feels that such strain may have contributed to his two missed targets. “I was really trying to stay focused,” he said.

None of the other finalists hit more than 21 targets. Two of those competitors shot 21 targets during their final round, one of which was the second-place competitor after the first five rounds who finished with the second-place total of 141 targets.

“I would really like to thank God for the ability he has given me,” Burrows said. “I’d like to thank my family for always being behind me.”

Burrows’ next match will be a selection match for the world championships. The selection match will take place in late September. “I’m looking forward to that,” he said.

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