Lucy Charlotte Hall was the toast of British shooting yesterday after a silver medal at the European Championships (Shotgun) in Larnaca, Cyprus confirmed GB would be sending a team to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. With the Men’s and Women’s trap events taking place, the top two would get a spot.
On the men’s side, GB had a formidable team, and perhaps one where you’d expect the quota to come, with Aaron Heading, Nathan Hales, and Matthew John Coward-Holley all winning medals at high-levels: Coward Holley had the jewel in the crown, a bronze medal at Tokyo 2020. In the qualifying stage there would be 125 targets to hit, with the top eight going through. Hales was the top performing Brit, in joint third with 121 hits, with Coward-Holley in joint fifth with 120. Heading missed out in 14th with 118 hits. Hales had a shoot-off for third with Cyprus’ Andreas Makri, but lost 2-1 to finish fourth, while Coward-Holley had a three-way shoot-off for fifth with France’s Clement Bourgue and Portugal’s Armelim Felipe Rodrigues. While Bourgue got no points, Rodrigues beat Coward-Holley 6-5 to pip him to fifth.
The next round was the Ranking Match, where the eight finalists were split into two groups of four. After fifteen targets, fourth would be eliminated, and the top two after twenty-five would go through to the Medal Match. Both Brits went in the second round where they were joined by Croatian Anton Glasnovic and Swede Rickard Levin-Andersson. It was close after fifteen targets, with Glasnovic eliminated on ten, Hales leading on thirteen and both Coward-Holley and Levin-Andersson on twelve. But the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist faltered and finished on 19 and was eliminated, with both Levin-Andersson and Hales going through on 21.
In the Medal Match, Hales and Levin-Andersson were joined by Jiri Liptak of the Czech Republic and Armelim Felipe Rodrigues of Portugal. After fifteen hits, fourth would be eliminated, after twenty-five, third would be, and then a champion would be declared after thirty-five. After fifteen, there was a clear leader, and a clear backmarker: Liptak had a perfect fifteen and Rodrigues was eliminated with ten, but it was close between Hales and Levin-Andersson on twelve. Both missed just one of their next ten to be on twenty-one, while Liptak extended his perfect run to twenty-five. The tiebreaker would be the Ranking Match, but both were equal on that: therefore it would go back to the qualification round, where Levin-Andersson was ahead; ergo Hales was eliminated. A bronze medal and missing out by the smallest possible margin, a tiebreaker within a tiebreaker, on a Paris 2024 place.
On the women’s side, there was also a high amount of optimism, with Hall joined by Kirtsy Hegarty and Ellie Seward. Hall was the only Brit to qualify, with 117 points earning her joint fourth, although Hegarty put in a respectable 113 to earn 13th and Seward earning 110 hits and 22nd. Hall was in a tiebreak with France’s Carole Cormenier and Italy’s Jessica Rossi and came up on top, with three hits compared to two for Cormenier and one for Rossi. In the ranking match she was joined by Rossi as well as the latter’s compatriot Giulia Grassia and Spain’s Mar Molne Magrina. After fifteen it was Grassia who was eliminated on nine, with Molne Magrina on thirteen and both Rossi and Hall on twelve. But the Spaniard faltered, missing six of her final ten to finish on seventeen, allowing Hall to safely go through in second with nineteen behind Rossi with twenty.
So into the medal match, with Hall and Rossi being joined by Silvana Stanco of Italy and Fatima Galvez of Spain. Hall led after fifteen with fourteen hits, with Stanco and Rossi both on thirteen; Galvez with ten was eliminated. After twenty-five it was Stanco that took the lead, adding nine to her score to make twenty-two, but Hall survived on twenty-one. Rossi was eliminated with twenty. The ball was in Stanco’s court, but Hall would make her work for her gold medal, with a perfect ten from ten of her final shots; but unfortunately, Stanco responded the same. So Stanco won 32-31, but the silver medal was enough for Hall to send our first representative to the Games.
The action from Larnaca continues with the Men’s and Women’s Skeet starting on 8 September. For the Trap shooters, their next chance to add a quota will be at the World Championships (Shotgun) in Osijek, Croatia, which also start next month.
GB Games 