After a winter with little action, Paris 2024 qualification action resumes as spring arrives. The 10m European Shooting Championship in Tallinn is coming up. The Ring Sport and Spa Centre is one of the Estonian capital’s finest arenas of its kind, and now hosts some of Europe’s best.
For Great Britain, we have already qualified a few athletes, but not in 10m events. A maximum of two can be qualified per country in shooting events, but not two from the same country in the same event. Two per event qualify here: there are men’s and women’s 10m air rifle and 10m air pistol events. There are also mixed events: if a Brit of both genders qualifies in the same event, they will automatically be paired for a team.
Starting on the men’s side with the air rifle. Dean Bale is our sole entrant on this event. The world #54, he came 75th in the World Championships, the sole other qualifier. Therefore, a top-two finish may be too hard this time. With the air pistol, Kristian Callaghan and James Miller don the red white and blue. Callaghan came 30th in the world championships and has a current ranking of fourteen, while Miller came 52nd and is ranked sixteenth. Again, this may be a bridge too far.
On the women’s side, Katie Gleeson and Seonaid McIntosh go for GB. Gleeson’s current ranking is 113. McIntosh is the most exciting for us at this event. Twelfth at the Olympics in Tokyo, she was sixth at the World Championships and can target qualification. We do not have an entrant in the pistol. The pistol events are on 10 March, with the Rifle on 11 march.
GB Games 