James Willett is a shooter and Olympian who was awarded a Scholarship within the 2016 Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program, he was paired with Stan Longinidis as his Mentor.
James was born in Mulwala, country New South Wales, in 1995, and started shooting at Corowa High School at the age of 14. He developed quickly under the tutelage of his father Arthur and entered his first international competition at the DTL World Championships in New Zealand in 2014. He finished the event as the world junior champion.
Following two strong years in the Men’s Double Trap, James won the ISSF World Cup in 2016 and qualified for his first Olympic Games in Rio, finishing 5th. During 2017, he won another national title and finished on the podium at multiple World Cup events. He then competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Double Trap but was forced to make a career change. Double Trap was removed from the Olympic program, so James switched to the Trap.
In his new discipline, James won dual World Cup gold medals in Mexico in 2019 and did so with a world record score of 125/125 and 47/50. This won him the world number 1 ranking in Men’s Trap. James won two more national titles in 2020 and returned to the Olympic arena in Tokyo in 2021 after working closely with famous Australian shooter Russell Mark.
James and his family built a personal shooting range on their farm in order to help fellow Australian shooters train and compete and develop their skills in Olympic disciplines.
Honours & Achievements
- 2016: Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder
- 2017: Australian National Champion & Highgun Winner Double Trap
- 2017: ISSF World Cup Mexico, Double Trap – 2nd
- 2017: ISSF World Cup India, Double Trap – 1st
- 2018: Australia National Champion & National Highgun Winner Double Trap
- 2018: Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Double Trap – 6th
- 2018: ISSF World Championships Korea, Men’s Trap 4th + Olympic Quota for Australia
- 2019: Australia National Champion & National Highgun winner Men’s Trap
- 2019: ISSF World Cup Korea, Men’s Trap – 3rd
- 2019: ISSF World Cup Mexico, Trap Mixed Team – 1st
- 2019: ISSF World Cup Mexico, Men’s Trap 1st place & World Record 125/125
- 2019: ISSF World Champion Mixed Teams Trap
- 2020: Australia National High Gun Champion Men’s Trap
- 2020: Australia National Champion Men’s Trap
- 2020 (2021): Tokyo Olympic Games – Trap Mixed, 7th
- 2020 (2021): Tokyo Olympic Games – Men’s Trap, 21st
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