SKEET WOMEN
Italy’s hopes of medals could hardly be higher given the presence of their hugely experienced and in-form former Olympic champion Diana Bacosi..
.Bacosi, 40, (pictured) who took gold at the Rio 2016 Games and silver at Tokyo 2020, and who earned the world title in 2019 and 2022, ended her pre-Olympic programme with a golden flourish.
She won the European title at her home range of Lonato in May and finished top of the podium in the following month’s World Cup held at the same venue. Italy have chosen Martina Bartolemi as their second athlete in this event.
Meanwhile the athlete who took silver behind her at the Europeans, Lucie Anastassiou, is also just one place behind Bacosi in the rankings and her recent form, which saw her earn World Cup bronze in Rabat, will have raised hopes of a home medal in this event.
The strength of American athletes in this event is evidenced by the fact that the United States has three of its representatives in the top seven – Austen Smith in fourth, Samantha Simonton in sixth place and Dania Vizzi in seventh.
Following the extended US trials, Smith, 22, and Vizzi, 28 are the two who will take up the Olympic quota places on offer and seek to replicate the achievement of their compatriot Amber English, who won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
It was tough luck for Simonton, who beat Maruzzo and another Paris 2024 medal prospect, world No. 10 Reem Al-Sharshani of Qat to gold at the Cairo World Cup.
Despite winning the second part of the US trials six-times Olympian and three-times gold medallist Kimberly Rhode missed out on the Games for a second successive time and has now set her sights on LA 2028.
Smith, who was the youngest member of the team at the Tokyo 2020 Games, offered evidence of her continuing form as she won gold at the Baku World Cup, finishing six hits clear of Maruzzo, and then took bronze at the concluding World Cup in Lonato behind Bacosi and her team-mate Vizzi, the world silver medallist.
At 39, Danka Bartekova of Slovakia, who won the 2023 world title in Baku 12 years after taking bronze at the London 2012 Olympics, carries serious hopes of another global medal as her form has established her as the current world No.8.
Having earned a title she had sought for 25 years after defeating Vizzi 11-10 in a shoot-off, Bartekova is ready to further demonstrate the rare quality of shooting sport in terms of longevity of elite careers.
Amber Rutter (nee Hill), 26, who missed the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19 two days before the Games began – with her bags packed and a taxi to the airport booked for 6am the next morning - is named in the British team having had a son, Tommy, in April this year.
In July 2022, Hill became the most successful Briton in ISSF World Cup events when she won the silver medal in Changwon, taking her medal total to 11 – one more than Richard Faulds, the Sydney 2000 Olympic double trap champion.
Other talents to be monitored include Kazakhstan’s Assem Orynbay, who won gold at last November’s World Cup Final, Sweden’s fifth-ranked Victoria Larsson, Chile’s Francisca Crovetto Chadid, who won bronze at the Championship of the Americas qualifier and then topped the podium at the Final Olympic Qualifier in Doha, and the Indian pair of Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan, respective Asian silver and bronze medallists.
Asia Olympic Qualification,Champs Shotgun – Kuwait City Jan
Gao Jinmei (CHN), Raiza Dhillon (IND), Maheshwari Chauhan (IND)
ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun Cairo Jan-Feb
Samantha Simonton (USA), Martina Maruzzo (ITA), Reem Al Sharshani (QAT)
ISSF World Cup Shotgun Rabat Feb
Simona Scocchetti (ITA), Martina Maruzzo (ITA), Lucie Anastassiou (FRA)
Olympic Qualification CAT XIV Shotgun Champs Santo Domingo Feb-March
Daniella Borda Olaechea (PER), Julia Nelson (USA), Francisca Crovetto Chadid (CHI)
ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship Shotgun Doha April
Francisca Crovetto Chadid (CHI), Maheshwari Chauhan (IND), Jiang Yiting (CHN)
ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun Baku May
Austen Smith (USA), Martina Maruzzo (ITA), Danka Bartekova (SVK)
European Championships Shotgun Lonato May
Diana Bacosi (ITA), Lucie Anastassiou (FRA), Daria Turulo (AIN)
ISSF World Cup Shotgun Lonato June
Diana Bacosi (ITA), Dania Jo Vizzi (USA), Austen Smith (USA)