Derek Burnett
Shooting
BIOGRAPHY
Derek Burnett represented Ireland in the men’s trap shooting event at five Olympic Games: Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020 – becoming only the third Irish athlete to compete at five Summer Olympics, alongside race walker Robert Heffernan and sailor David Wilkins.
His best Olympic result came at Athens 2004, where he finished joint 9th with a score of 119 out of 125, narrowly missing a place in the six-person final. He narrowly missed qualifying for Rio 2016 by a single target after being temporarily distracted by a fellow competitor breaking his gun beside him. He qualified for Tokyo 2020 by shooting 121 at a World Cup event in the UAE in 2019, and finished 26th in Tokyo with a score of 118 out of 125.
Away from the Olympics, Burnett won a World Cup bronze medal in 1998 and silver in 2007, had a top-five finish at the 2002 World Championships, and won European Championship silver medals in 2010 and 2013. He competes for Athlone Clay Pigeon Club and has been competing for Ireland since 1997.
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SHOOTING NEWS
Performance Round Up July 2026
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EVENTS COMING UP IN AUGUST
Athletics World U20 Championships, Eugene, Oregon: 5-9 August European Athletics Championships, Birmingham: 10-16 August Lausanne Diamond League: 20-21 August Silesia Diamond League: 23 August Zurich Diamond League: 27 August Boxing European U19 Championships, Loznica, Serbia: 11-22 August Boxing Ireland U23 Championships, 7-22 August Cycling UEC Mountain Bike European Championships, Monteceneri, Switzerland: 30 July [...]
Irish Sailing and Rugby Sevens Shine in Action-Packed Weekend
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Events Coming Up in July
Athletics Eugene Diamond League - July 4th Cork City Sports - July 8th Morton Games - July 10th Monaco Diamond League - July 10th Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix - July 14th London Diamond League - July 18th National Senior Track and Field Championships - July 25th & 26th Badminton Japan Open World Tour 750 [...]
LA28 Qualification Dates in 2026
ROAD TO LA ALREADY UNDERWAY! 2026 marks the beginning of the qualification journey for many sports as they look ahead to the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. Qualifying for the Games, which take place from 14–30 July 2028, is challenging across all disciplines. Most sports require either direct qualification through specific events, qualification via [...]
Events coming up in May 2026
Athletics 2-3 May: World Athletics Relays, Gaborone, Botswana Boxing 3-10 May: Feliks Stamm Tournament, Warsaw, Poland Canoeing 29-31 May: Canoe Slalom World Cup 1, Ljubljana, Slovenia Cycling 1-3 May: Downhill & Cross-country Olympic World Series round 1, South Korea 22-24 May: Rás Tailteann, Ireland 22-24 May: Cross Country World Series, Czech Republic [...]