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At 41, Spain’s Alberto Fernandez will travel to Paris with realistic hopes of adding an individual title to the trap mixed gold he took at Tokyo 2020 along with Fatima Galvez.
World champion in 2010 and 2018, Fernandez is world-ranked No.1 after a season in which has won gold at the Cairo World Cup and European Championships.
Meanwhile another 41-year-old Olympic gold medallist, Croatia’s Giovanni Cernogoraz - who won the individual title at the London 2012 Games - is also heading to Chateauroux with excellent prospects, having won the European and world titles last year and done enough this year to be world-ranked 26th.
At the other end of the age range this event will feature Iran’s Mohammad Beyranvand, who, at 15, earned a Olympic quota place for Paris 2024 after winning a shoot-off at the Asian Olympic qualifier in Kuwait City (pictured centre).
Beyranvand, who finished 71st at last year’s World Championships, fell onto his back with his hands over his face after beating China’s Guo Yuhao to gold.
He will not turn 16 until August 28 this year – 26 days after the shooting event concludes at the Paris Games – and is currently in line to join three others who have competed in shooting at an Olympics aged 15, thus becoming the fourth youngest on record.
At 20, Spain’s Andres Garcia is a comparative oldie, but the manner in which the 2021 world junior champion won the Final Olympic qualifier in Doha made it clear that here is competitor for whom the sky is the limit…
Meanwhile another Olympic medallist has hit form at the ideal time of the year – Britain’s Matthew Coward-Holley, the 2019 world champion and Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist, is world-ranked third after winning the concluding World Cup title in Lonato.
Coward-Holley - who stepped away from the sport after Tokyo 2020 in order to process feelings of disappointment at not winning gold - will compete alongside 28-year-old Nathan Hales, who set a world record of 49 at last year’s World Cup in Lonato and finished the year by taking World Cup Final bronze in Doha.
One place below him in the standings is the man who took silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games, 49-year-old David Kostelecky of Czechia.
The veteran’s best result so far this year was the second place he earned at the Rabat World Cup behind another hugely experienced competitor with realistic Paris 2024 medal ambitions, 43-year-old Mauro De Filippis, world-ranked 14.
Taking bronze that day was an Australian whose outstanding consistency earned him a Paris 2024 via the ranking points system, James Willett, who is world-ranked second after a season in which he added World Cup gold in Baku to his Rabat bronze.
Prospects of an Egyptian family double at Paris were ended by the failure to qualify of Abdel Aziz Mehelba, who won gold at the World Cup Final in Doha last November on the same day that his younger brother, Azmy, took silver in the skeet men after losing a shoot-off by 26-25.
The United States will be looking for Derrick Main to maintain the kind of form that earned him the world title in 2022 and the Championship of the Americas title this year.
India have chosen Prithviraj Tondaiman, who will be making his Olympic debut.
Guatemala, whose athletes regained the right to compete under their own flag earlier this year, will be hoping for great things from Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas, who earned bronze at the Championship of the Americas and at the World Cup in Baku.
Asia Olympic Qualification,Champs Shotgun – Kuwait City Jan
Mohammed Beyranvand (IRI), Guo Yuhao (CHN), Lakshay Lakshay (IND)
ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun Cairo Jan-Feb
Alberto Fernandez (ESP), Diego Valeri (ITA), Oguzhan Tuzun (TUR)
ISSF World Cup Shotgun Rabat Feb
Mauro De Filippis (ITA), David Kostelecky (CZE), James Willett (AUS)
Olympic Qualification CAT XIV Shotgun Champs Santo Domingo Feb-March
Derrick Mein (USA), Eduardo Lorenzo (DOM), Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas (GUA)
ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship Shotgun Doha April
Andres Garcia (ESP), Mauro De Filippis (ITA), Oguzhan Tuzun (TUR)
ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun Baku May
James Willett (AUS), Filip Marinov (SVK), Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas (GUA)
European Championships Shotgun Lonato May
Alberto Fernandez (ESP), Yavuz Ilnam (TUR), Bostjan Macek (SLO)
ISSF World Cup Shotgun Lonato June
Matthew Coward-Holley (GBR), Daniele Resca (ITA), Yu Haicheng (CHN)