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    • Mkbw50

      Sixteen Olympic spots on offer as world's best with shotguns unite in Osijek

      Mkbw50

      Paris 2024 sees one of its biggest qualification event to date as the 2022 World Championships (Shotgun) take place in Osijek, Croatia. The event is hosted at Osijek's Pampas Olympic Shooting range, home of successful Croatian club UPS Pampas.
       
      Four places are up for grabs in four events, these are the Men's and Women's Skeet and Trap. For the Skeet, if a man and a woman from the same NOC get a spot (or if a country that already has a spot in one gender gets one in the other gender) this will also confirm a place in the mixed team event. Only one athlete per NOC can get a spot in a particular event at this championships; furthermore, athletes which have already gained a spot cannot qualify. The European Championships were held already. The athletes that are ineligible to gain a quota are Jiri Liptak (Czech Republic) and Rickard Levin-Andersson (Sweden) in the Men's Trap, and Lucy Charlotte Hall (Great Britain) in the Women's Trap; over on the skeet side, Jakub Tomecek (Czech Republic) has already got his place in the men's, while Amber Hill (Great Britain) and Nadine Messerschmidt (Germany) have already gained a place for the women.
       
      Starting on the men's side, with the skeet and American Olympic champion Vincent Hancock, as are fellow medallists Jesper Hansen (Denmark) and Abdullah Alrashidi (Kuwait). In fact, the whole top five in Tokyo are here, with Finland's Eetu Kalloinen and France's Eric Delauney ones to watch. Also present is Great Britain's Ben Llewellin, who came third in the European Championships in Larnaca and will be hoping to recover from that narrow miss. In the 2020 cycle, this was the first event on the calendar: Hancock qualified, as did Norway's Erik Watndal, Italy's Riccardo Filippelli, and France's Emmanuel Petit, all bar Filippelli are present here. Great Britain and Germany can secure a place in the mixed team event with a qualification here, while the Czech Republic's Tomas Nyrdle defends his title.
       
      In the Men's Trap, and Olympic and European champion Liptak will take all the attention but has already qualified a spot. The presence of Olympic runner-up David Kostelecy means that the Czechs can already complete a maximum of two quotas in this event at Paris at this early stage. Defending champion Matthew John Coward-Holley, who won bronze in Tokyo, is hoping to qualify a place for Great Britain, while Mexican youngster Jorge Orozco Diaz, China's Yu Haicheng and Kuwait's Abdulrahman Al Faihan return meaning that all six finallists in Tokyo will be in Osijek. GB's Nathan Hales and Portugal's Armelim Felipe Rodrigues will also hope to make a splash after making the final in Larnaca. In the 2020 cycle, it was Spain's Alberto Fernandez, Al Faihan, Slovakia's Erik Varga and Australia's James Willett who qualified from this event, all four return.
       
      Over to the women's side, and starting with the skeet; the US have not brought with them Olympic champion Amber English, and neither runner-up Diana Bacosi of Italy or Chinese bronze medallist Wei Meng, who were top two in the last event in 2019, return this year. Thailand's Isarapa Imprasertsuk and Messerschmidt, who were fourth and fifth in Tokyo, do return. Also her is Danka Bartekova of Slovakia, who won a bronze medal in Larnaca and will hope to qualify for the Games at this opportunity. In this event in the 2020 cycle, two Americans qualified (which is no longer allowed) in Caitlin Connor and Kimberly Rhode, while Bartekova won a place alongside the ROC's Natalia Vinogradova. Bartekova is the only athlete to return; Vinogradova's absence is alongside the entire Russian team. The Czech Republic and Italy can confirm a place in the mixed event with a qualification.
       
      Finally to the Women's Trap, and Slovakian Olympic champion Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova is joined by American Kayle Browning and San Marino's Alessandra Perilli, who joined her on the podium in Tokyo; Australians Laetisha Scanlan and Penny Smith also return from that final. Another significant name is Fatima Galvez of Spain, who came fourth in Larnaca and will hope to qualify this time. Rehak Stefecekova, China's Wang Xiaojing, Italy's Silvana Stanco and Scanlan were the four to qualify in the 2020 cycle at this event; all but Stanco, who already qualified in Larnaca return.
       
      The trap events take place from 26-28 September, while the skeet events take place from 7-9 October.
       
      Patrick Green
      Writer, Totallympics News
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    • JoshMartini007

      World Surfing Games Reaches Midway Point with Olympic Quotas On the Line

      JoshMartini007

      Four days of competition have been completed at the 2022 World Surfing Games, marking the halfway point of these championships. The games are currently being held in Huntington Beach, United States.
       
      The event features a double elimination bracket where an athlete is only eliminated if they fail to finish in the top two in their heat twice. Currently, 12 men and 16 women remain in the main bracket while all other surfers have been placed into the repechage bracket.
       
      The World Surf League, the governing body for professional surfers is well represented on the men’s side where 9/12 athletes in the main bracket are part of the permanent roster for the 2022 season. On the women’s side only three permanent roster athletes are competing. Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons and United States’ Gabriela Bryan remain in the main bracket.
       
      The best performance on the men’s side so far was Griffin Colapinto of the United States who scored a 17.00 in the second repechage round, a statement performance after being eliminated from the main bracket in the second round. Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi, silver medalist at the 2020 Olympics has been the most consistent where he has so far finished first in all four main bracket rounds, including obtaining the second and third highest overall scores so far in the first and fourth rounds respectively.
       
      In the women’s event, the best performance so far came from Australia’s Sophie McCulloch who scored a 16.43 in the second round of the main bracket.
       
      This event offers one man’s and one woman’s quota to the 2024 Olympics. In a bit of twist from the other quotas, the place is awarded to the highest-ranking nation in the team points rankings. The team points are calculated based on the combined results from the three competing athletes. The quota is awarded to the nation and will allow a nation to potentially send three athletes should they qualify two individual quotas at future events.
       
      The World Surfing Games will continue until September 24th.
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    • Vojthas

      Victorious Germany with an Eventing Olympic quota along with six other teams

      Vojthas

      Team of Germany won the gold medal at the Eventing World Championships in Pratoni del Vivaro. Along with six other teams they newly crowned champions took the Olympic quota for Paris 2024 in both - team and individual event for their team members.
       
      After the dressage test it was the British team to lead the team classification, but during the cross country London 52 ridden by Laura Collett made a run out at one of the obstacles, which resulted in a massive points loss and brought Collett from the 2nd place individually to just 48th, becoming the weakest part of the British team. That made them fall to the third place, behind Germany and USA, with 7,4 points of advantage over New Zealand. However the jumping test brough 16 penalties to Oliver Townend on Ballaghmor Class, bringing the Brits out of podium. The gold was taken by the German team, USA was second and New Zealand took the bronze, while the Olympic quotas went also to the teams of Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland.
       
      Individually it was Michael Jung to lead the field after cross country, but he made two knockdowns, falling of thepodium. A clear ride gave the silver to his teammate, Julia Krajewski, but she lost to Yasmin Ingham - the sole Brit not entered to the team event. Bronze was taken by Tim Price of New Zealand - finishing the event with the same result as Rosalind Canter from Team GB, but coming closer to the time limit to the finish line of the cross country.
       
      Photo: FEI / Richard Juilliart
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    • JoshMartini007

      Historic moment for Raffaeli as she wins first individual All-Around Gold for Italy

      JoshMartini007

      History was made today as Sofia Raffaeli became the first Italian to win gold in the women’s individual all-around at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships. The event also doubled as the first Olympic qualification opportunity for the rhythmic individual all-around event where the top three athletes qualified their nation to the games. The 2022 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships are currently being held in Sofia, Bulgaria from September 14th to September 18th 2022.
       
      The qualification round was topped by Italy’s Sofia Raffaeli whom finished with a total of 98.850. In the qualification round only the three best apparatus scores are counted towards your overall total. Raffaeli was the top performer in the ball and ribbon. The top performer in the hoop and clubs was Bulgaria’s Stiliana Nikolova whom finished just behind Raffaeli with a score of 98.200. The pair had an over 2-point gap ahead of third place Darja Varfolomeev of Germany.
       
      In the final, all four apparatus performances are counted towards your total, meaning there was no room for error. The top three from the qualification round continue to be the best performers. After the first two rotations Varfolomeev held a 1.050 lead over Nikolova and Raffaeli. However, a poor ribbon by Nikolova essentially knocked her out of contention for gold leaving Varfolomeev and Raffaeli to battle for gold in the final rotation. Varfolomeev held a 1.000 lead and had to compete in the ribbon while Raffaeli’s final apparatus was the ball.
       
      Varfolomeev had a 32.450 performance in the ribbon, but Raffaeli was able to counter with a 34.250 on the ball, allowing her to win gold with a total score of 133.250. She finished first in the hoop, ball and ribbon. Varfolomeev finished in the silver medal position by winning the clubs and finishing with a total score of 132.450. Bronze and the final Olympic quota went to Nikolova who finished with a total of 128.800.
       
      Raffaeli had a breakout season in 2022 where she won gold in the individual all-around at 3/5 World Cup events. She also added many apparatus medals to her collection including three golds (hoop, ball & ribbon) and one bronze (clubs) at this World Championships.
       
      The next Olympic opportunity for nations to qualify in this event will be at the 2023 World Championships.
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    • JoshMartini007

      Bulgaria to defend Olympic crown after Group-All Around World Title

      JoshMartini007

      Bulgaria will get to defend its Olympic title after winning the Group All-Around title for the first time since 2014 at the World Championships. In terms of Olympic qualification, the top three nations in the group all-around final qualify a team of five athletes to the games. The 2022 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships are currently being held in Sofia, Bulgaria from September 14th to September 18th 2022.
       
      The host nation, performed consistently well in both apparatuses, scoring a 33.800 in the five hoops and a 32.800 in the three ribbons + two balls for an overall score of 66.600. The 3 ribbons + 2 balls performance was the difference maker as they finished two points clear over second place Israel and were the only two nations to finish with a score above 30. Israel finished with a total score of 64.650 while Spain grabbed the third and final quota thanks to a 63.200 performance.
       
      The Bulgarian team was made up of an entirely new group from the team which won gold in Tokyo. The team included Sofia Ivanova, Kamelia Petrova, Rachel Stoyanov, Radina Tomova, Zhenina Trashlieva and Margarita Vasileva.
       
      Pre-tournament favourites Italy had a relatively poor performance in the 3 ribbons + 2 balls and while they were the best team in the 5 hoops, it was not enough and they finished fourth. Italy and other nations will have other opportunities to qualify to the Olympics, with the next one being the 2023 World Championships.
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    • Mkbw50

      Czech Republic, Germany among countries to take spoils in Wrocław

      Mkbw50

      Eight more spots at Paris 2024 have been confirmed in the sport of Shooting, as the 2022 European Championships (25m/50m) took place in Wrocław, Poland. The top-two placing athletes in each event, with the stipulation that they can't be from the same NOC, earned a spot for their country in Paris.
       
      The four events were the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions, the Men's Rapid Fire Pistol, the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions, and the Women's 25m Pistol. Starting on the men's side, with the 50m Rifle 3 Positions, and to whittle down a large start list an elimination relay was held: there it was Norway's Simon Claussen (594) and Jon-Hermann Hegg (592) that impressed with a 1-2. With the final 36 athletes known, including three ranking points only (RPO) shooters, qualification was next, and the top eight would qualify with two hundred shots in each of the three positions, for a total of six hundred. In the end it was Lithuania's Karolis Girulis with a 593-38x, just ahead of Petr Nymbursky of the Czech Republic on 593-36x. Croatia's Miran Maricic (591) and Nymbursky's compatriot Jiri Privratsky (590-39x) were next, just ahead of Bulgarian Anton Rizov (590-38x), Slovakian Patrik Jany (590-36x). Hegg (590-34x) and Claussen (589-39x) were the last qualifiers, with five other athletes on 589 just missing out: Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine (35x), Frantisek Smetana of the Czech Republic (33x; he was an "RPO" athlete anyway), Petar Gorsa of Croatia (30x), Christoph Duerr of Switzerland (29x), and Ole Martin Halvorsen of Norway (28x). In the ranking round, with decimal scoring, the quota spots would be decided, as the top two would go to a gold medal match. Two series would be fired in each position, then the bottom two would be eliminated; a third series would be fired in the standing position, and two more would be eliminated, and then one final standing series to determine the final two of the four. Jany was down after the kneeling phase but recovered in the prone and standing section, pulling him away from Girulis (303.8) and Rizov (302.9). In the next stage, Claussen (353.7) had a poor final series to join Maricic (353.4) in being eliminated. With one more series to go, an impressive 50.9 from Hegg made him qualify in first with 408.0, and though Nymbursky faltered somewhat he still had enough to qualify second in 407.7. A good final series wasn't enough for Privratsky (407.0) to close the gap, missing out alongside Jany (404.5). Gold medal matches are held with each athlete shooting, earning two points for a higher score, with the first to sixteen winning; a tie earns one point each, but with this somewhat rare, it is practically a best-of-15 shoot-off. With the score at 12-12, Hegg shot a 10.5 while Nymbursky could only manage a 9.6, putting the Norwegian in pole position. However, in the next shot, Nymbursky hit a 10.6 while Hegg earned a 9.7, leading to one final shoot-off. The pressure got to Hegg, who hit an 8.9, and Nymbursky's 10.8 earned a gold medal for the Czech Republic. It's another quota in shooting for them, while Hegg earns Norway's first in Paris.
       
      Moving over to the Rapid Fire Pistol, and 39 athletes, four of whom were RPOs. With the top eight going through, and with a total of 600 shots, Ukraine's Pavlo Korostylov was top in qualifying with 587 hits. Germany's Oliver Geis was next with 586, while France's Clement Bessaguet (20x) and Great Britain's Sam William Gowin (18x) on 585. Florian Peter of Germany (22x), Martin Strnad of the Czech Republic (16x), and Maksym Horodynets of Ukraine (14x) were next on 584, with the final spot going to Italy's Massimo Spinella on 581. Next would be the ranking matches, where there would be four series of five shots each (a total of twenty), and the top two would advance. The first ranking match was comprised of Bessaguet, Horodynets, Korostylov and Peter, and after two series there was a clear pattern, with everyone on seven hits bar Peter on five. Korostylov hit all five in the next series, while Bessaguet and Peter managed four, Horodynets, fatally, only hit three. In the final series, everyone would only hit three, meaning that Korostylov (fifteen) and Bessaguet (fourteen) advanced, while Horodynets (thirteen) and Peter (twelve) were eliminated. Geis, Gowin, Spinella, and Strnad took part in the second match, where consistency was key, Geis (eighteen) and Strnad (fourteen) advancing relatively easily, with Gowin (eleven) and Spinella (ten) in the cold. In the final, the fourth-placed shooter would be eliminated after four series, with a further two to eliminate third-placed, and another two to decide a winner. After three series, Bessaguet and Geis were ahead on eleven, with Korostylov on ten and Strnad on nine. Any chance the Czech had of recovering to medal was lost when he missed four in the fourth series and was eliminated on ten: Geis was in the danger zone on twelve after also missing four, but he hit a perfect ten in his next two series to eliminate Korostylov on 21. After seven series, it was 25-25, with one series left to go between France and Germany for gold, and it was Bessaguet who took all five hits to win 30-29 and become European champion. The quota spots then, go to France and Germany. The fact that a place has gone to hosts France mean their automatic host spot no longer applies; instead, a second spot will be earned based on the qualification ranking.
       
      Moving to the women's side, and again starting with the 50m Rifle 3 Positions, it was once more a Norwegian leading the elimination relay, with Jenny Stene setting a Qualification European Record 595 hits. In qualification, with 36 athletes including eight "RPO"s, Stene improved her own record to 596, with Sarina Hitz of Switzerland coming second with 593. Rikke Maeng Ibsen of Denmark was next with a 592, and Jeanette Hegg Deustad of Norway managed 591. The Czech Republic's Veronika Blazickova (33x) and Ukraine's Daria Tykhova (31x) both managed 590, with Germany's Jolyn Beer (589-36x) and Slovenia's Ziva Dvorsak (589-32x) just edging out Austria's Nadine Ungerank (589-26x) for the final spot. The ranking match is unforgiving, and those that are not keeping pace get eliminated, as Dvorsak (304.4) and Beer (302.8) soon found out. Hitz was clearly out and finished 6th on 356.5, but who would go into the final four? It was close between Duestad and Stene, but the Norwegian let herself down with a 49.5 to finish and she was eliminated on 358.0. Duestad was too far adrift to make the top two, finishing fourth on 409.9, and Ibsen was too far in front and finished well ahead on 413.9 even with an underwhelming final series, but after Tykhova faltered in the final series Blazickova could overturn the gap to her. She did with an impressive 50.9, pipping Tykhova 411.7-410.4. In the medal match, Ibsen raced into a lead and wasn't caught, it finished an uneventful 16-6 to the Dane. The quota spots went to Denmark and the Czech Republic.
       
      Finally, the women's 25m pistol event, which follows a similar format to the men's rapid fire pistol. 51 athletes, including four RPOs, entered qualifying, and it was Germany's Doreen Vennekamp who led the way on 592. Anna Korakaki of Greece was next on 588, while Antoaneta Kostadinova's 587-20x just pipped Camille Jedrzejewski of France's 587-19x onto 4th. Maria Varricchio of Italy (19x) and Renata Sike of Hungary (18x) both managed 583, while Joana Castelao of Portugal was safely through on 582. Poland's Klaudia Bres was through on 581-18x, pipping Ukraine's Olena Kostevych on 581-17x and Latvian Agate Rasmane on 581-16x. The first ranking match was made up of Castelao, Kostadinova, Varricchio, and Vennekamp. In the end, Vennekamp advanced simply, on seventeen, while Castelao and Varricchio tied for second with thirteen, and Kostadinova was eliminated on eleven. In the shoot-off, the Italian took it 4-2, joining Vennekamp in the final. The other ranking match had Bres, Jedrezjewski, Korakaki, and Sike. After a challenging first series it was close all the way through, but Jedrezejewski and Korakaki never recovered from hitting just one in that initial series. In the end, Bres (thirteen) and Sike (twelve) went through, with Korakaki (eleven) and Jedrezejewski (ten) eliminated. In the final, what seemed inevitable became reality. Sike hit just three from the first two series, but hit a perfect ten in her next two to get her nose in front of Varricchio, who was eliminated on twelve. While Bres and Sike were both on thirteen at this stage, the dominant Vennekamp had already worked her way into a commanding lead with eighteen. It was still a close-run thing for silver, and it went to a single shot, with Sike eliminated on seventeen and Bres surviving on eighteen. It didn't last long: after one more series, Vennekamp lead 29-21, and as victory was mathematically secured, a Golden Hit was declared and the German was European champion; Germany and Poland securing the quota spots.
       
      The short version of this article reads that on the men's side, the 50m Rifle 3 Positions spots went to the Czech Republic and Norway, while the Rapid Fire Pistol berths went to France and Germany, while on the women's side, the 50m Rifle 3 Positions places headed to Denmark and the Czechs, while the Germans and Poland earned a place in the 25m pistol event. The next chance shooters in this category will get is the 2022 World Championship (Rifle and Pistol) in Cairo, Egypt.
       
      Patrick Green
      Writer, Totallympics News
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    • Mkbw50

      "Surf City, USA" a fitting host for first Surfing qualifier for Paris 2024

      Mkbw50

      Surfing is the latest sport to have its first qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The 2022 ISA WSG (International Surfing Association World Surfing Games) will yield a spot for both men and women at the Games. Bizarrely, this is actually the lowest priority event on the calendar, despite being the first chronologically, meaning that we will not necessarily know the country to claim the spot for certain after the event. However, it is certainly a big deal. There is normally a cap of two athletes per NOC per gender in Olympic surfing, but this can be bumped up to three by claiming the spot on offer at the 2024 and 2022 WSG. Therefore, the top surfers will be hoping for a good performance. The host city is Huntington Beach, California, United States, which is nicknamed "Surf City, USA", such is the popularity of the sport there and the consistently good conditions: the city also hosted the event in 1984 and 2006.
       
      The spot is earned by the highest ranking team. On the men's side, the Brazilians will hope to count on Olympic champion Ítalo Ferreira as well as Miguel Pupo and Samuel Pupo, while Tokyo runner-up Kanoa Igarashi heads the Japanese team. France are defending champions but have a new-look team compared to the 2021 event in La Libertad, El Salvador's own "Surf City", they'll be hoping to find consistency in preparation for a home games. Griffin Colapinto heads a strong American team, which will be hoping to impress an expectant home crowd.
       
      On the women's side, the Americans are without Olympic champion Carissa Moore, and it will be interesting to see how their young team gets on. Tokyo Bronze medalist Amuro Tsuzuki of Japan will be in action, while Sally Fitzgibbons will hope for another strong games for Australia. Portugal's team of Yolanda Sequeira, Teresa Bonvalot, and Francisca Veselko is considered a dark horse.
       
      The event starts with the Opening Ceremony on 16 September, with the competition on 17-23 September for men, and 19-23 September for women, with the final on 24 September for both genders.
       
      Patrick Green
      Writer, Totallympics News
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    • Mkbw50

      Eventers of the world seek Olympic spot in Pratoni del Vivaro

      Mkbw50

      Olympic spots are up for grabs again in equestrian, as the 2022 FEI World Eventing Championships take place in the small Italian hamlet of Pratoni del Vivaro. A plateau overlooking the great Alban Hills with a population of less than five hundred, it is mostly used for an observatory, but an equestrian centre was established here for the Rome Olympics in 1960. The Federal Equestrian Centre of Rocca di Papa (the municipality to which Pratoni del Vivaro belongs) was used for cross-country events, as Lawrence Morgan on Salad Days led an Australian 1-2. In a different era, equestrianism returns to Rome.
       
      Olympic eventing has a team event and an individual event, with every team qualifying all three of its members to the individual event. Olympic hosts France have already qualified, and the top seven in Pratoni del Vivaro will join them. Great Britain's five-strong team includes the Olympic gold-winning trio of Laura Collett, Tom McEwen and Oliver Townend, complete with the same horses, while runners-up Australia also keep their Tokyo team intact. Bronze medalists France only have Nicholas Touzaint on Absolut Gold returning from Tokyo. Hosts Italy will be hoping to get a quota spot, with other strong teams including Germany, who have individual Olympic champion Julia Krajewski as well as Rio 2016 champion Michael Jung; host nation Italy, as well as New Zealand, Japan and the United States.
       
      The full list of sixteen teams is: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France (ineligible for Olympic qualification), Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, and the United States.
       
      The dressage competition will take place on 15 and 16 September, with Cross-Country on 17 September, and Jumping on 18 September.
       
      Patrick Green
      Writer, Totallympics News
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    • Mkbw50

      Rhythmic Gymnasts from all over the world eye Paris spot in Sofia

      Mkbw50

      Gymnastics will know its first Olympic qualifiers over the next few days as the 2022 FIG Rhythmic World Championships take place in Sofia, Bulgaria. The Armeets Arena in Sofia is perhaps best known as home to the Bulgarian volleyball team, as well as the ATP Sofia Open tennis tournament, but in the coming week some of the best rhythmic gymnasts in the world will compete.
       
      Up for grabs are three places each in the Individual and Group competitions (only women compete in this discipline). It should be noted that there are at most two places in the individual competition per NOC, and hosts France are already guaranteed of one individual and one group place, although they are unlikely to cause too many headaches here.
       
      Looking at the individual lists, it's a whole new look for the Israeli team, with Olympic champion Linoy Ashram retiring from the sport earlier this year, and Nicol Zelikman, who finished 7th in Tokyo also calling quits on elite competition. However, blue and white hopes will instead be put on Daria Atamanov, whose European gold earlier this year showed she was worthy of carrying Ashram's torch. Adi Asya Katz, who came 11th in Tel Aviv, is also on the Israeli team. In fact, none of the three medallists will be in Sofia, as Dina Averina (ROC) and Alina Harnasko (Belarus) both come from countries that are banned from competing. Other Tokyo finalists will be there, with home favourite Boryana Kaleyn, who came fifth in Tokyo, considered Atamanov's greatest threat for gold: she was runner-up at the Europeans in Tel Aviv. Considering that the ten finalists in Tokyo were all European, it is hard not to consider that a warm-up for this week's event, and other athletes including bronze medallist Stiliana Nikolova (Bulgaria), Sofia Raffaeli (Italy) and Darja Varfolomeev (Germany) will be hoping for a quota place. Sixty-two countries representing all five continents will be represented in Sofia, all bar Venezuela have at least one individual: in total, eighty-two athletes will enter.
       
      In the group competition, Bulgaria won gold in Tokyo and it's of course natural to focus on them first especially considering the venue, but an all-new group will take part this time, comprising of none of the Olympic champions. Bulgaria still came fourth in Tel Aviv, where Israel won gold. There will be a fair heap of pressure of course, especially with a home crowd watching, including the champions. Israel are another big contender, coming sixth in Tokyo. Silver medallists the ROC of course are absent, but Olympic bronze medallists and European runners-up Italy will hope to medal here too. Azerbaijan came tenth in Tokyo, but a bronze in Tel Aviv means they will have to be considered. Moving away from Europe, the Asian trio of Uzbekistan, Japan, and China will be hoping to cause a splash, although a medal may be beyond their reach somewhat. Twenty-nine groups compete in total, with Africa the only continent left out: Angola, Egypt, and South Africa instead focusing on individual competition.
       
      The individual qualification begins on September 14, with the final on September 17. The group event is on September 16.
       
      Writer, Totallympics News
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    • Mkbw50

      Sailing, Volleyball clarify Olympic procedures

      Mkbw50

      Further information on the process for Sailing and Volleyball qualifying to the Olympic Games in Paris has been confirmed over the last few days.
       
      Sailing
       
      The main addition to Sailing's procedures is confirmation that the 2024 Last Chance Regatta is now confirmed to take place in Hyeres, France, on 18-27 April 2024. The event will qualify five boats each in the Windsurfing and Kite competitions (for each gender), four in the Mixed Dinghy event, and three in every other event. Furthermore, a few continental qualifiers have been released. The European qualifiers include the 2023 Formula Kite European Championships (Portsmouth, GBR, 16-24 Sep 2023), the 2023 European Championship (Vilamoura, POR, 10-15 Oct 2023) for 49er, FX, and Nacra 17 events, while the 2024 World Championships (Lanzarote, ESP, 26 Jan-3 Feb 2024) will serve as the qualifying for iQFOiL events, where as the 2024 ILCA Senior European Championship and Open European Trophy (Athens, GRE, 16-23 Feb 2024) and the 2024 World Championships (Palma, ESP, 24 Feb-3 Mar 2024) will be the qualifier for the 470 class. Furthermore, the 2023 Pan American Games (Santiago, CHI, 20 Oct-10 Nov 2023) will be the qualifier for both the Central and South American, and North American and Caribbean zones, for all events bar the MX Dinghy, which will have its own qualifier, details of which remain unconfirmed. No details have been released for the Africa, Asia, or Oceania zones. Finally, another qualification event, the 2024 ILCA 7 World Championships has been confirmed to take place in Adelaide, Australia, from 24-31 January 2024, while the 2024 ILCA 6 World Championships has been confirmed to take place in Mar del Plate, Argentina, on a date to be confirmed.
       
      Volleyball
       
      Volleyball has made a slight alteration to its qualification system. In the Qualification Tournaments, the system used to say that the top 24 out of the ranking of 12 September 2022 for men and 17 October 2022 would participate. However, this has now been updated so that 21 of the 24 teams would come from this set of countries, while the other three would be host federations, instead selected from the rankings of 20 September 2021.
       
      Athletics remains the only sport not have its qualification system confirmed.
       
      Patrick Green
      Writer, Totallympics News
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    • Mkbw50

      Larnaca: GB's Amber Hill amongst four to secure quota spots

      Mkbw50

      The 2022 European Championships (Shotgun) in Larnaca have had their final Olympic spots decided with two spots each being earned in the Men's and Women's Skeet. NOCs came into this event knowing that if they qualified one man and one woman they would also guarantee a spot in the mixed team event.
       
      Starting with the men's side, 78 athletes entered, although nine of these were "Ranking Points Only" (RPO) entries, which meant they couldn't progress from qualification or earn a spot at the Games. The first round was a qualification round, with eight athletes progressing, and 125 targets to shoot. Leading the way was Eric Delaunay of France with 124 hits, with GB's Ben Llewellin in second with 123. Jesper Hansen of Denmark and Luigi Lodde of Italy were tied for third on 122 hits, sending it to a marathon shoot-off: Lodde finally winning it: twenty hits to nineteen. Also on 122 hits was Georgios Achilleos of Cyprus, but as a Ranking Points Only athlete he did not enter the shoot-off and finished fifth. The next seven athletes all got 121 hits, and apart from another Cypriot RPO, Andreas Chasikos, who finished twelfth, the top four of the remaining six in the shoot-off would qualify. In the first shoot-off, Jakub Tomecek of the Czech Republic qualified in sixth with twelve hits, while Mikola Milchev of Ukraine came seventh with ten, and Tammaro Cassandro of Italy came eighth with nine. But the Czech Republic's Tomas Nydrle, Georgia's Yaroslav Startsev and Dainis Upelniks of Latvia were all tied on just one hit. There would be another shoot-off for ninth and the final spot: but both Nydrle and Startsev managed two, while Upelniks could just get one. So Upelniks was eliminated in eleventh, and a third shoot-off was necessary for Nydrle and Startsev, which the Georgian finally took 4-3.
       
      Achilleos aside, the remaining eight of the top nine then progressed to the Ranking Round, in which they would be split into two matches of four. The lowest-placed athlete after twenty hits would be eliminated in both matches, with the remaining three continuing until thirty hits were completed: the top two would go through, while third would also be eliminated. The first match was composted of Cassandro, Delaunay, Lodde, and Tomecek. And after twenty hits it was Delaunay and Lodde that led the way with nineteen hits, while Cassandro and Tomecek were on eighteen: Tomecek survived due to finishing higher in the shoot-off. After that though, the Czech held his nerve while others faltered, hitting a perfect ten out of his last ten to finish on 28. Lodde also finished on 28, but Delaunay missed two of his last ten to be eliminated on 27. In the other Ranking Match; Hansen, Llewellin, Milchev and Startsev were the four to face off. After twenty shots, Hansen led with nineteen, with Llewellin and Startsev on eighteen, Milchev was eliminated with sixteen. All three remaining hit nine of their next ten, so Hansen went through on 28, but Llewellin and Startsev had to shoot-off for 2nd on 27. The Briton took it 4-3 and advanced to the medal match.
       
      So it would be Hansen, Llewellin, Lodde and Tomecek in the final: whoever was last after twenty shots would be eliminated in fourth, then of the remaining three whoever was last after thirty would be eliminated and take the bronze medal, finally, whoever was ahead after forty would win gold. Twenty shots in and Lodde and Tomecek had gone without a single miss, while Llewellin was on nineteen, Hansen was eliminated with seventeen. Lodde then hit his next ten to extend his perfect run to thirty, while Tomecek missed just one to bring his total to 29. Llewellin missed two and was eliminated with a bronze medal on 27. In the final ten shots, Tomecek missed just one while Lodde's resolve finally broke and he missed two, meaning they tied on 38 apiece. In a gruelling shoot-off, which seemed to go on forever, Tomecek finally came out the winner 20-19. So gold for the Czech Republic and silver for Italy, and those two countries get a quota place.
       
      Over to the women's side and there were 35 entrants, none of which were "RPO"s. Germany's Nadine Messerschmidt topped qualifying with 119 hits, ahead of Danka Bartekova of Slovakia in second with 117. Five athletes were tied for 116, with Diana Bacosi of Italy in third, Konstantia Nikolaou of Cyprus in fourth, Barbora Sumova of the Czech Republic in fifth, Amber Hill of Great Britain in sixth and Lucie Anastassiou of France in seventh after the shoot-offs. More dramatic was the six-way tie for eighth on 114, with Marjut Heinonen of Finland winning the shoot-off to get the last spot, ahead of Martina Bartolomei and Chiara Cainero, both of Italy, Nele Wissmer of Germany, Victoria Larsson of Sweden and Jessica Louise Burgess of Great Britain.
       
      The first Ranking Match was made up of Anastassiou, Bacosi, Messerschmidt, and Sumova, and after twenty hits Messerschmidt led with eighteen ahead of Bacosi on seventeen, with Sumova and Anastassiou on fifteen: the Czech survived based on the qualification performance. Bacosi hit all of her next ten to qualify first with 27, and Messerschmidt joined her with 25 despite missing three of her final ten: Sumova missed one to finish on 24. In the other ranking match, which was composed of Bartekova, Heinonen, Hill, and Nikolau, Hill put on a special display, hitting all twenty of her first targets to lead with Bartekova also impressive on nineteen. Nikolau survived on seventeen while Heinonen on sixteen was eliminated. Nikolau had no answer though as both Hill and Bartekova hit their final ten to finish with a perfect thirty and a 29 respectively, while the Cypriot could only hit seven and was eliminated on 24.
       
      So off to the final then, which could be composed of Bacosi, Bartekova, Hill, and Messerschmidt and it was ultra-competitive from the start: after twenty shots, Messerschmidt had hit a perfect twenty while Hill, Bartekova, and Bacosi were all on nineteen: the Italian eliminated due to her inferior ranking round score. The next ten were perfect from Hill while Bartekova and Messerschmidt could only manage eight: this meant that Hill now led on 29, Messerschmidt was on 28, and Bartekova was eliminated on 27. In the final round, Hill had hit nine out of ten to finish on 38 while Messerschmidt hit her first nine to bring herself up to 37. She just needed to hit the final target to force a shoot-off, but missed to hand Hill the gold and Great Britain the first quota place. Messerschmidt still earned silver and a quota place of her own to Germany.
       
      That is the last of the Olympic qualification events from Larnaca then, on a day where the Czech Republic and Italy won quotas in the men's skeet, and Great Britain and Germany did so in the women's. The 25/50m European Championships are underway in Poland with Olympic qualification events soon to start. The next chance athletes will get in these events is the 2022 World Championships (Shotgun) in Osijek, Croatia.
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      European 25/50m shooters descend on Poland chasing Olympic dream

      Mkbw50

      While the 2022 European Shotgun Championships continue in Larnaca, Cyprus, another blue ribbon shooting event with places in Paris up for grabs is taking place in a very different European city. Wrocław is the capital of Poland's southwestern Lower Silesian Voivodeship, with about 650,000 people calling it home. The city will be hosting the 2022 European 25m/50m Shooting Championships, with places at the 2024 Olympic Games on the line. Hosted at the shooting range of Polish top-flight football club Śląsk Wrocław, which also has top-tier teams in women's football and handball as well as being the reigning Polish basketball champion.
       
      The top two places (with the stipulation that the same country can't win both places) in four events will earn a spot for their country at the 2024 Olympics: the 50m Rifle 3 Positions for both genders, the Men's Rapid Fire Pistol and the Women's 25m Pistol. The first week of competition will be dedicated to junior competitions which do not earn quota places, but preliminary competition for the Olympic events starts on 12 September for all events apart from the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions, which starts on 13 September. On 14 September, the finals will take place: firstly the Women's 25m Pistol at 11:00 local time, before the Men's Rapid Fire Pistol at 17:00 and the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions at 19:00. The Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions final will take place on 15 September at 17:00.
       
      It is too early for a start list, but there is guaranteed to be a range of talent on show. At Tokyo 2020, out of the twelve medallists in these events, seven were European, although four of these were Russian and will not be competing. The other three Europeans to medal in these events were Men's Rapid Fire Pistol champion Jean Quiquampoix of France, Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions bronze medallist Milenko Sebić of Serbia, and champion in the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event Nina Christen of Switzerland. While finding information on participation is not the easiest, the Swiss federation has confirmed that Christen will compete, so we will see at least one Olympic champion.
       
      This event has a different priority than it did in the Tokyo cycle, coming first in the schedule for shooters in this event. In the Tokyo Games, it was somewhere in the middle of the calendar. The Czech Republic and Italy got a place in the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions thanks to Petr Nymburský and Lorenzo Bacci, while in the Women's event it was Belarus' Maria Martynova and Denmark's Stine Nielsen. In the Men's Rapid Fire Pistol Italy's Riccardo Mazzetti and Azerbaijan's Ruslan Lunev earned a spot, while in the Women's 25m Pistol both places went to France thanks to Mathilde Lamolle and Celine Goberville, something that would be impossible this time around.
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