Amber Rutter held her nerve to win a silver medal in the Olympic women’s skeet shooting final in Chateauroux, a little more than three months after giving birth.

Rutter was surprised by her husband James and baby son Tommy after the dramatic final showdown, in which the 26-year-old was edged out by Francisca Crovetto of Chile.

The final moments of the showdown were not without controversy as Rutter appeared to strongly argue that her crucial miss had in fact clipped the side of the clay. Nevertheless, Rutter showed evident delight at clinching a medal that capped a remarkable career resurgence after she missed out on a place at the Tokyo Olympics due to a positive Covid test.

Rutter had blazed through qualifying in joint first place but ranked second after a qualifying shoot off behind American Austen Smith. With just one miss from her first 20, Rutter reached the first elimination stage in first place, with Slovakian Danka Bartekova the first to fall by the wayside.

Rutter missed one of the next 10, placing her second behind Crovetto and remained in a strong position when the field was reduced to four by the removal of Emmanouela Katzouraki of Greece. Another miss in the next set did not matter for Rutter, with another Slovakian, Vanesa Hockova missing two out of four, leaving Rutter punching the air with delight after guaranteeing a medal.

Smith was next to go, and two late misses by Crovetto lifted Rutter into the sudden death shoot-off, in which she was narrowly denied.