On a day when Britain’s world No.1 Seonaid McIntosh, Germany’s world No.2 Anna Janssen and India’s world record holder and Asian Games champion Sift Kaur Samra failed to make the cut, Sagen Maddalena of the United States topped qualification for tomorrow’s 50m rifle 3 positions women final as she and China’s 20-year-old world champion Zhang Qiongyue jointly established an Olympic record of 593.
McIntosh, who appeared to be in peak form after winning the final ISSF World Cup of the season in Munich, was ideally placed until the final standing section of the event, where hjer total of 189 – 10 less than she had scored in her opening kneeling section – was the lowest in the top 20, leaving her on a total of 586, three shy of the sixth best qualifier.
Janssen, who failed to reach the final of the 10m air rifle, where she was world No.1, finished one place above the Scot on 587.
Sift Kaur Samra, meanwhile, finished second from bottom in 31st place with 575.
Maddalena, 30, who finished fifth at the Tokyo 2020 Games and earned bronze at last year’s World Championships, now looks likely to earn material reward for her talent in tomorrow morning’s final.
But she will be well aware of the threat posed by Zhang.
Switzerland’s world No.2 Chiara Leone also looks handily placed after finishing third on 592, three ahead of Mongolia’s Yesugen Oyunbat, who won on the tie-break of inner 10s ahead of four other athletes on 589.
Norway’s Jeanette Hegg Duestad, the 2023 World Cup Final gold medallist who finished fourth in both the 50m rifle 3 positions and 10m air rifle at the Tokyo 2020 Games, earned fifth place, followed by Natalia Kochanska of Poland, Nadine Ungerank of Austria and Stephanie Grundsoee of Denmark.