Luiz Carlos Pinto

THE OLYMPIC SELECTION FOR THE PARIS 2024 GAMES COMES TO AN END IN RIO DE JANEIRO

Ole Martin Halvorsen (Norway) and Michael Bargeron (Great Britain), in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men; Emely Jaeggi (Switzerland) and Aleksandra Pietruk (Poland), in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women; and Jean Quiquampoix (France) and Keith Sanderson (United States), in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men. These are the last six of the 16 athletes classified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship Rifle / Pistol, in Rio de Janeiro. The competition was held over nine days at the Military Shooting Sports Center (Olympic Shooting Center) and was attended by 466 athletes from 75 countries representing the five continents: America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The finals were broadcast live on the YouTube channel of Team Brasil, ISSF and NSPORTS.

In the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men, the gold medal went to Finnish Aleksi Leppa, who scored 461.9 points against 459.9pts from Czech Jiri Privratsky, silver medalist. The two were already qualified for Paris. The bronze and the Olympic place went to Norwegian Ole Martin Halvorsen. The other place for Paris belongs to seventh place Michael Bargeron, from Great Britain, as the athletes in fourth to sixth place had also already secured their classifications.

Norwegian Jeannette Hegg Duestad, already qualified for Paris, won the gold medal in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women by just three tenths: 462.9pts against 462.6pts for Emely Jaeggi, from Switzerland. The young athlete, just 15 years old, secured her Olympic place, as did the Polish Aleksandra Pietruk, fourth placed. The bronze medal went to Swiss Chiara Leone, who needed to overcome her compatriot Emely to take the place.

The last event of the competition, the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men, was decided in the last series by two athletes qualified for the Games: the Czech Martin Podhrasky and the Frenchman Clement Bessaguet. After two draws at 28 to 28 and 31 to 31, the Czech hit all five shots in the new shoot-off series against two from the Frenchman and closed at 36 to 33. Gold for Podhrasky, silver for Clement, and bronze for the Frenchman Jean Quiquampoix, who guaranteed his presence in Paris together with the American Keith Sanderson.

Norway leads the medal table

On the last day of competition, Norway surpassed France in the medal table with Jeannette Duestadna’s gold in Rifle 3 Positions. The Norwegians came first with two gold, one silver and two bronze (five in total). The French finished second with one gold, four silver and one bronze (6). The Czech Republic finished third, with one gold and one silver (2). Germany and Italy shared fourth place, with one gold and one bronze (2).

Photo: Carol Bittencourt