The last eight Olympic quota places for European shooting sport athletes are on offer in Osijek, Croatia at the Continental Championships where competition began today at the Pampas Shooting Range and is scheduled to finish on June 7.
The four Olympic events at the European Shooting Confederation Championships for 25m, 50m and 300m Rifle and Pistol will each offer two Paris 2024 quota spots.
The 50m rifle 3 positions men’s and women’s finals will take place on Tuesday, May 28 and the 25m pistol women and 25m rapid fire pistol men finals are scheduled for Wednesday, May 29.
The European Championships 25m, 50m Rifle and Pistol were last held at Wroclaw in 2022, with the 300m edition last taking place in Osijek in 2021. The main continental competition last summer was the third European Games in Krakow-Malopolska.
The current competition has attracted a record entry of 520, with Germany providing the largest team of 38 athletes.
Hungary is fielding 35, Poland and Ukraine are on 32, the Czech Republic on 31 and the Croatian hosts, as well as Norway, have a 27-strong team.
For Jiri Privratsky of the Czech Republic, (pictured), who won European bronze in 2022 and European Games silver last summer, these Championships offer an ideal early opportunity to recover his equilibrium after the Baku World Cup earlier this month.
In Azerbaijan the 23-year-old Czech saw the 50m rifle 3 positions world record of 466.1 he had set on the same range at the previous year’s World Cup beaten in successive finals by China’s Yukun Liu, who left the mark at 468.9.
Privratsky, world-ranked No.1, just missed out on a medal in the first of the two scheduled finals, but had the consolation of bronze in the second.
He is one of seven of the top-10 world-ranked men competing in Osijek, three of whom have not yet earned a Paris 2024 quota place – Lucas Kryzs and Romain Aufrere of France, respectively ranked sixth and seventh, and ninth-place Miran Miracic of the host nation.
Seven of the world’s top ten women in the 50m rifle 3 positions will also be competing – including Germany’s world No.2 Anna Janssen and Tokyo 2020 champion Nina Christen. Two of those seven have yet to secure an Olympic quota place – Switzerland’s Chiara Leone and Jolyn Beer of Germany.
Also included in the event is the 15-year-old Swiss athlete Emely Jaeggi who this summer could become the youngest ever shooting sport athlete to appear at an Olympics having alfready earned a quota place.
The 25m pistol women event has attracted five of the world’s top-ranked athletes, including the German pairing of Josefin Eder and ISSF female Athlete of the Year and world champion Doreen Vennekamp, respectively world No.3 and No.4.
Of the five top-ranked competitors only 42-year-old Sylvia Steiner, tenth on the list, is without a quota place.
Six of the 10 top-ranked men will contest the 25m rapid fire pistol event. France’s Clement Bessaguet, world No.2, tops the list, and his compatriot Jean Quiquampoix, the Tokyo 2020 champion, is also included.
Of those six men, only one – Germany’s World Cup Final gold medallist Florian Peter, the world No.5 – is yet to earn a quota place.