Published on 07 Jul 2013

Spotlight on Youth - Alex Schmirl and the youngsters

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Alessandro Ceschi

Austria's Schmirl, 23, was close to podium, but a final mistake broke his dream. He's now ready for the future – together with the other five young finalists!

Alexander Schmirl doesn't want to talk after Men's 10m Air Rifle final - the the first Rifle final of the Granada World Cup is just over . He came 4th, his dream of getting a medal first close to come truth and then vanished in a second. A great start, with the first 15 shots giving him a great confidence and, during the game, 1st place as well.
Then, the big mistake: an 8.9 in the 16th shot cut him out of the game – placing him 4th, just missing out on the coveted podium.

 

A few hours to think about it, and Schmirl is back: “I was too relaxed,” he explains. “I had luck in the beginning of the match, but then I lost focus, I was quite sure I would have made it to the bronze.” That's how overconfidence can mislead you.


But the sadness didn't last too long. That would have been hard in such a team as the Austrian one: “Our group is young and funny, – explains Alexander - we make jokes all day. Starting from breakfast!”And if the good attitude of Schmirl's teammates wasn't enough, there came a text-message: “My dad texted me to congratulate me on my performance. That cheered me up.”


Not only a father's words. Schmirl's dad is actually an athlete and owns a shooting club back in Austria - where it all started: at that time, Alexander was just 8 and had no plans but having fun. Schmirl has now moved forward and has new goals: “I'm training on 50m because of the European Championship, but my main focus is next year's World Championship: that'll be my first one.”


Schmirl is off to the first great competitions of his career, as other shooters from this final are: 6 of the 8 athletes in the final scoreboard were indeed not older than 25. Other than the 23-year-old Schmirl, there were Julian Justus (3rd place, 25 years old), Illia Charheika (5th, 20), Juho Kurlki (6th, 21), Serhiy Kulish and Davis Connor (7th and 8th, both 20).1st and 2nd place were taken by such experienced athletes as Peter Sidi, 34, and Wang Tao, 30.


Two experienced athletes won the most important medals, the other six took the rest - keeping their hunger for victory for the next competitions.


Alex Schmirl and the youngsters, running with enthusiasm towards the future.