Despite a stacked team, GB’s shooters did not add any places to their already existent four-strong Paris team at the European Games in Kraków.
Qualifiers took place in the twelve individual events: Men’s/Women’s 10m Air Rifle, 10m Air Pistol, 50m Rifle 3 Positions, Rapid Fire Pistol (M)/25m Pistol (W), Trap, and Skeet. The top athlete that had not already qualified a place, or from an NOC that did not have the maximum two, would qualify.
In the Men’s 10m Air Rifle, no Brits entered. In the 10m Air Pistol, Kristian Michael Callaghan and James Andrew John Miller did. Miller was best in qualifying, coming 14th with a 577 (14x), with Callaghan 29th on 570, but both missed the top eight with Joao Costa of Portugal on 578.
Michael Stephen Bargeron entered the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions, coming in 24th with a 584 (33x), a fair way off Italy’s Simon Weithaler in 8th with a 590 (37x). In the Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol, Callaghan was joined by Sam William Gowin. Gowin came 16th with a 572 (13x), with Callaghan 24th with a 558, a fair bit behind the Czech athlete Martin Podhrasky in eighth on a 580 (15x).
The Trap saw Matthew John Coward Holley and Aaron John Heading enter: Coward Holley came joint seventh to enter a shoot-off with 121, with Heading 12th on 120. The others in the shoot-off were Portugal’s Joao Azevedo and Armelim Coelho Rodrigues, Croatia’s Anton Glasnovic, and Sweden’s Rickard Ulf Levin Andersson. Glasnovic and Coelho Rodrigues both missed the first shot, leaving Azevedo, Levin Andersson, and Coward Holley fighting for two places. However, Coward Holley missed his next one, finishing ninth.
The Skeet saw Ben William Llewellin enter alongside Karl Frederick Killander. Llewellin came joint fourth on 123, Killander on 119 got 25th (the score for eighth, earned by Vincent Christo Haaga of Germany, was 122: he got 37 in a shoot-off compared to Cyprus’ Georgios Achilleos on 13). A shoot-off with Swedish pair John Henrik Jansson and Erik Marcus Svensson followed, with Llewellin blinking first after nine successful shots to come sixth.
This put him in a shoot-off with Haaga, Svensson, and Estonia’s Peeter Juerisson. The first athlete would be eliminated after twenty shots: unfortunately that was Llewellin on seventeen (Haaga and Juerisson both had eighteen, with Svensson a perfect twenty; Llewellin missed his last shot, and three of his last seven after thirteen in a row perfect). Thus, he was eliminated.
On the women’s side, Seonaid Morven McIntosh entered the 10m Air Rifle; she qualified 14th with 627.2, behind Germany’s Lisa Jutta Mueller (628.0) in eighth. In the 10m Air Pistol, Jessica Kathryn Liddon was for GB, she came 28th with a 563 (11x), twelve off Poland’s Julita Borek in eighth (575-17x). In the 50m Rifle 3 Positions, McIntosh was joined by Katie Maria Gleeson. McIntosh advanced, qualifying second with a 591, Gleeson was 27th with a 578 (22x). Marta Zeljkovic’s 587 was the score to beat in eighth, just edging out Switzerland’s Nina Christen on 586 (32x). Of the eight, two would be eliminated after two rounds: these were Zeljkovic and Germany’s Jolyn Beer. Another round of just standing would follow, and Norwegian Jeanette Hegg Duestad and Serbian Teodora Vukojevic would follow. There would be one more round of standing and two would advance, but 406.5 was only good enough for third: Norway’s Jenny Ostre Stene’s 409.6 needed for second.
Liddon entered the 25m Pistol, she came 33rd with a 561, way off Georgian Nino Salukvadze with 579 (18x) in eighth. In the Trap, Lucy Charlotte Hall and Georgina Tasmin Roberts entered for GB: Hall qualified tenth with 116, Roberts 19th with 113: in eighth was Spain’s Mar Molne Magrina with 118, who got nothing in a shoot-off. Finally, in the Skeet, Emily Jane Hibbs and Amber Jo Rutter entered for GB: Rutter topped qualifying with a European Games Record 123, while Hibbs was 14th with a 115. German Nele Wissmer was eighth on 120 (with three in a shoot-off), just beating Slovakia’s Danka Bartekova with 119. Rutter thus advanced to a ranking match with German Nadine Messerschmidt, Italy’s Martina Bartolomei, and Swede Victoria Mari Larsson. Again, the bottom athlete after twenty would be eliminated: this was Rutter, with sixteen (Messerschmidt had twenty, Bartolomei nineteen, and Larsson eighteen).
This means that the Brits will have to go again. The next chance to qualify will be four places each at the World Championships in Baku (AZE) from 14 August-1 September.
GB Games 