DEVON shooter Georgina Geikie says she has made a number of key changes to her shooting equipment as she looks for an advantage in securing a Team GB spot at London 2012.

The 27-year-old, from Addiscott, near South Zeal, is in Finland this week for the European Championships, which began on Tuesday and is being held in the village of Vierumaeki.

But Geikie – who scooped two medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi – endured frustration last time out at the IWK International Air Weapon Competition in Munich at the end of January, finishing well off the pace.

And that disappointment saw Geikie take decisive action to address an issue with the grip of her air pistol which she hopes will result in an up-turn in form.

"I went to Munich which was just for my air gun which is my slightly weaker event and it highlighted some psychological and technical areas that I need to improve on and I think I am on the right track again," she said. "I came back very positive and I have a plan of action. There were some technical things that came to the fore, so I have been working on them since and I think I have managed to solve them.

"The world's best were there too and so it was tough but it also showed me where I was at the moment in terms of my preparation.

"It was a disappointing result because I finished sort of mid-table, but I would rather get the bad results out of the way now and learn where I need to improve."

Issues for Geikie began last year when she altered her shooting stance in a bid to improve performance.

A change in grip for her pistol was then required and, with the Games in the captial drawing ever closer, Geikie was adamant it was right to deal with the problem immediately rather than put the situation off.

"I changed my stance and my grip a little while ago and that is definitely the area that needed particular attention," explained Geikie.

"The best craftsman for the type of grip I use lives all the way over in Switzerland, so I took a plane to Zurich in between Christmas and New Year to get my grip modified and it's much better now.

"I did not want to get into a situation when I was shooting badly in April and wonder why I didn't get it looked at in January. With all the technical changes I have made it was quite hard but I am up for the challenge – I am definitely heading in the right direction."

Geikie did her chances of Olympic selection no harm at all by earning a second quota spot for the 25m pistol event for Team GB after securing a 13th-placed finish in Serbia back in August.

Despite her decent showing, Geikie was left frustrated after falling just two points short of a place in the top-eight with her tally of 578.

That result means that two shooters can be selected for the event by Team GB instead of just one.

And although Geikie will be going all out to perform well at the current event in Finland, she does not feel the results will be the key factor in deciding if she will compete at London 2012.

"The European Championships in Finland for airgun are my next big competition and that is the last opportunity to win quota places for athletes, so people will really be going for it," revealed Geikie.

"But I do not think they will be hugely significant in deciding the Olympic squad. Obviously I do want to shoot as well as I can so the selectors can't leave me out though.

"We should hopefully find out about the Olympic squad after that so it should be around April I think, although none of us know for sure.

"I am slowly getting there though. If you think of things as a wheel, I am slowly ticking off a box in each part of it.

"I am certainly not quite ready yet, but I don't want to peak too early either, so things are going well."