With the Paris 2024 Olympics shimmering on the horizon the European Championships 10m rifle and pistol event in Gyor, Hungary offers a vital route to the Games.
Two Olympic quota places will be on offer in each of the men’s and women’s 10m air rifle and air pistol events. But the challenge for medals will also be on.
In tomorrow’s 10m air pistol women event, Germany’s 25m pistol world champion and ISSF female Athlete of the Year Doreen Vennekamp will seek to replicate her success at the 2019 edition of these Championships in Osijek.
The 28-year-old earned an Olympic 25m pistol quota back in 2022 for her European victory in Wroclaw.
Also in the lists is Georgia’s 55-year-old Nino Salukvadze, who last year became the first female in the history of the Games to qualify for 10 consecutive editions when she secured a 25m pistol quota place after finishing fourth at the European Games in Kraków-Małopolska.
Salukvadze, who won 25m pistol gold and 10m air pistol silver for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, added a 10m air pistol bronze for Georgia at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Other stellar talents in the women’s 10m air pistol list include Greece’s Anna Korakaki, pictured, the Rio 2016 bronze medallist, 2018 world champion and 2022 and 2023 world silver medallist, who also won Rio 2016 gold in the 25m pistol.
She is accompanied by another Paris-bound Greek shooter, Christina Moschi.
The men’s air pistol field includes Latvia’s Lauris Strautmanis, currently world ranked two, Germany’s World Cup Final champion Robin Walter, Bulgaria’s 41-year-old world third-ranked Samuil Donkov, Slovakia’s fifth-ranked Juraj Tuzinsky and Italy’s Federico Maldini and Paolo Monna, respectively ranked ninth and tenth.
Germany’s world number one Anna Janssen is in the field for the women’s 10m air rifle, as is Poland’s World Cup Final gold medallist Aneta Stankiewicz and Hungary’s world 9th-ranked Eszter Meszaros.
The men’s 10m rifle challengers will include the trio respectively ranked world number two, three and four - Martin Strempfl of Austria, the Czech Republic’s Jiri Privratsky, and Lazar Kovacevic of Serbia.
All finals can be viewed live on the ISSF Facebook and YouTube channels.