Pheobe has her sights set on Olympics

Pheobe Taylor from Rawnsley near Cannock, was crowned Prone Rifle champion just 18 months into her burgeoning shooting career.

It's the latest success on a remarkable rise in the sport that has included being named in the Great Britain junior squad.

It came just three months after she picked up a gun and has also left her the youngest person in the country shooting in the elite X class.

Stepdad Martyn Buttery has been chairman of the Rugeley Rifle Club for two years and was club captain for 12 years before that.

He said: "She was really happy, really pleased, it's a step in the right direction, and another move up the ladder."

The next step up that ladder is breaking into the squad for the Commonwealth Games, but Taylor has set her sights even further than that.

Buttery, a former Commonwealth air rifle champion himself who also works for Eley ammunition, said: "She wants to be an Olympian.

"She's looking for qualification into the Commonwealth Games in the future and then, after that, moving up to the Olympics."

The Kingsmead School pupil is currently in the throes of GCSEs, but she took time out of her revision schedule.

She travelled down to the National Shooting Centre in Bisley, Surrey, with her brother Jordan, 21, also a member at Rugeley.

Once there, she shot 578-600 in the 60-shot match over 50 metres against 40 of the best female shooters in the country.

The targets are decimalised to give a more accurate reading, meaning the maximum score for dead-centre bullseye is 10.9, which left Taylor with a winning total of 607.9.

The prone category involves shooters lying on their front to take the shot but Taylor also shoots air rifle and three positional, which incorporates standing, kneeling and prone positions.

Buttery couldn't be there on the day so when found out she had been crowned champion, he was incredibly proud of his stepdaughter's latest achievement.

He said: "I'm just over the moon, it really is a fantastic achievement for someone so young."