Germany’s Sven Korte (pictured) earned the skeet men title at the European Championships Shotgun in Lonato after winning a final of maximum jeopardy where all six qualifiers were in pursuit of the single Olympic quota place on offer.
In what was the last opportunity to claim a Paris 2024 spot through competition Korte earned his prize with a total of 52, two more than AIN athlete Anatoli Semenenko.
Earlier in the day at the Olympic Shooting Range the skeet women Olympic quota place went to France’s Lucie Anastassiou as she earned silver behind Italy’s Rio 2016 gold and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Diana Bacosi, who earned a Paris 2024 quota place at the 2022 World Championships.
Korte, a 34-year-old soldier, had won European silver on this range eight years earlier, but on this occasion he mastered the additional tension of the occasion to earn Germany’s 12th quota place for the Paris Olympics after taking over from the Czech Republic’s early leader Daniel Korcak, who eventually placed fourth.
Even though the German missed his two final efforts he still had enough to spare to win the day.
Bronze went to Ukraine’s Andriy Kobzaruk, with Britons Mitchell Brooker-Smith and Karl Killander – the latter having topped qualifying ahead of Korte – taking fifth and sixth place respectively.
Anastassiou, a 31-year-old from La Rochelle who is ranked world No.2, finished ninth at the Tokyo 2020 Games and took part in last month’s Test Event at the Paris 2024 Olympic venue in Chateauroux.
Bacosi, 40, used all her vast experience to take an early grip on the final that she never released as she finished victorious with a total of 56 – five more than her French rival.
On home soil, she took one step up the podium after taking European silver in Osijek last year.
Anastassiou’s quest for the Olympic quota was almost as challenging as Korte’s as she was in competition with three fellow finalists – third-placed AIN athlete Daria Turulo, fifth-placed Simona Scocchetti of Italy and Andri Eleftheriou of Cyprus, who was sixth.
Britain took the men’s team title thanks to Killander, Brooker-Smith and Ben Llewellin, with silver going to the Italian trio of Luigi Lodde, Tammaro Cassandro and Gabriele Rossetti, and the Czech Republic taking bronze through Korcak, Radek Prokop and Tomas Nydrle.
Team gold in the skeet women event went to Slovakia’s Hockova, Monika Stibrava and defending champion Danka Bartekova. Italy, through Bacosi, Scocchetti and Martina Bartolomei, earned silver, with bronze going to the Cyprus trio of Eleftheriou, Panagiota Andreou and Anastasia Eleftheriou.
Tomorrow will see the final Olympic event at these European Championships, the skeet mixed team.