Willett was one of three shooters in the shotgun-trap category – and 12 shooters overall - to qualify for the team after the completion of Australia’s domestic competition.
At the final event at the Melbourne Gun Club last weekend, Willett won the playoff with a score of 45/50.
The Olympian – who competed at Rio De Janeiro 2016 – will travel with the Australian team in mid-April to Doha, Qatar for the ISSF final Olympic qualifying championship and then to the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“We congratulate these twelve athletes on this very significant achievement and recognise their hard work and commitment towards their 2024 Paris Olympic campaigns,” Shooting Australia said.
Another boost to Willett’s Olympics aspirations came after Shooting Australia revealed it had recruited six-time Olympian and dual medallist (gold in Atlanta 1996 and silver in Sydney 2000) Russell Mark to join the coaching group for the Aussie team ahead of the Olympics.
Mark said he was excited to be working closely with Willett, as well as Australia’s other shotgun trap team members in Mitch Iles and Thomas Grice.
“All three have had a great start to the year in domestic competition, and internationally, James secured a World Cup bronze medal in Morocco,” Mark said.
Mark said gaining an entry into the Olympics was realistic for the Australians, with a maximum of two qualifiers from each country.
“We currently do not have a men’s trap quota and I am hopeful that my longstanding experience in this sport, both as an athlete and a coach, and as a six-time Olympian, proves beneficial to the men’s trap team and we can achieve the goal of not one, but hopefully two quotas towards the Paris games,” he said.
Willett will compete in Wagga this week as part of the ACTA National DTL championship which is a slightly different format compared to the Olympics discipline.
Willett is being sponsored by local businesses Central Murray Credit Union, Yarrawonga Toyota and Kennedy Builders.
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