European Games
Alexander Schmirl, Martin Strempfl and Andreas Thum took team bronze in the 10m air rifle competition at the European Games in Poland on Saturday. The trio clearly won the small final in Wroclaw after winning eight of nine series against Ukraine 16-2. In the women’s competition, Marlene Pribitzer, Nadine Ungerank and Sheileen Waibel finished sixth.
24.06.2023 18.36
Online since yesterday, 6:36 p.m
Schmirl, Strempfl and Thum won the first of two qualifying rounds, and the trio then missed the final by just 0.3 points. In the battle for bronze, however, Ukraine didn’t stand a chance and won the first medal for the Austrian Shooting Federation (ÖSB) team at these games. Gold went to Hungary and silver went to Croatia.
“Of course it makes shooting easier when you know that your teammates are also at the highest level,” said Strempfl, who finished fourth in the individual with the air rifle on Friday and secured the first quota place for the Austrian shooters for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris had brought. Schmirl was also happy about a great team performance: “It was already clear to us that we were very well positioned as a team, since we had already won silver at the European Championships and we wanted to be right at the top today.”
Pribitzer draws a positive interim balance
Although the women’s trio also reached the second qualifying round of the eight best teams, they did not finish sixth despite an improvement. In the match for gold, Norway beat the Swiss 12:8. Bronze went to Poland, which won the small final against Hungary 17:5.
Pribitzer, who now only has the small caliber rifle competition ahead of her, drew a positive interim balance: “I’m really very satisfied with the three starts in my special discipline air rifle,” said the 26-year-old. “With my ninth place in the individual, tenth in the mixed team and sixth place in the team, I’m very happy when I leave the air rifle competitions.”