Azmy Mehelba began his Olympic season in perfect fashion on his home range at Cairo’s Egypt International Olympic City as he earned an emphatic gold in the men’s skeet.
In the earlier women’s skeet final Samantha Simonton of the United States, twice a World Cup silver medallist last year, earned her first gold.
Mehelba, 32, has appeared in the last three Olympics and his prospects for the fourth in Paris later this year looked highly promising as he began by hitting his first 17 clays on a day of cold and windy conditions.
After a score 19 of his first 20 efforts the final was firmly in the hands of the man who won the world title in 2022 and added world bronze – the second of his career – last year.
Mehelba’s last competition, at the World Cup Final in Doha, had involved him in an epic trial of nerve in failing light as he eventually had to settle for silver after losing a shoot-off with Denmark’s Emil Petersen 26-25.
This was not such a testing occasion as he led by three after scoring 37 out of 40, and finished four shots clear with a total of 55 to take his third World Cup gold.
There were huge cheers from the stand as he finished the job off, and among those who were first to rush forward and congratulate him was his brother Abdel Aziz, winner of the men’s trap title at the 2023 World Cup final – under floodlights – and who competed earlier in this competition without making the final.
Germany’s 34-year-old soldier Glen Korte, a bronze medallist at last year’s World Cup in Larnaca, was the man who was closest to the Egyptian shooter after 40 shots, but then three misses in his next 10 dropped him down to bronze-medal position.
Moving past him was Britain’s 29-year-old Ben Llewellin, a world mixed team gold medallist in 2022, who scored 18 of his final 20 efforts to secure silver with a total of 51.
Italy’s Gabriele Rossetti, winner at last year’s World Cup at the shotgun of the Egypt International Olympic City, missed the medal podium by one place this time round.
Kuwait’s Abdulaziz Alsaad, who had topped qualifying on 124, one ahead of Llewellin, was fifth, and sixth place went to Korte’s compatriot Tio Schreier.
Simonton, 24, who had finished second in qualifying, led the competition on bib number after finishing level with Italy’s 30-year-old Martina Maruzzo after the first 20 shots, with both scoring 16.
But the American pulled clear with greater consistency and established a clear lead after Maruzzo had missed three consecutive shots with her 34th, 35th and 36th efforts.
Qatar’s Reem Al Sharshani, fifth at this month’s Asian Championships in Kuwait, earned her first individual World Cup medal as she took bronze.
Lucie Anastassiou of France, who had topped qualifying, finished fourth, with fifth place going to Sweden’s Victoria Larsson and Barbora Sumova of the Czech Republic finishing sixth.
Fuente: http://www.issf-sports.org
