The joy of victory at the end of a heart-pounding finale. It is the recent history of Italian shooting, inaugurated by Roberto Di Donna at the 1996 Olympic Games, continued by Niccolò Campriani in the rifle competitions in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and which was repeated today, with Paolo Monna, at the European Championships from 10 meters underway in Gyor, Hungary. The Italian won the continental men’s 10m pistol title and the Olympic card for Paris 2024, the second for Italy after the one already obtained by Sollazzo in the rifle. After having risked going out in the elimination rounds, the 25-year-old from Brindisi pulled out the perfect final out of the hat, in a contest with 6 out of 8 shooters chasing the Olympic pass. In the lead from the first 10 shots, Monna easily overcame the various preliminary hurdles, arriving at the grand finale in the company of the Slovakian Juraj Tuzinsky and the German Robin Walter.
Despite a 9.4 and a 9.3 on the 21st and 22nd shots, which were sufficient to eliminate Walter, the Apulian shooter did not lose heart in the face of Tuzinsky’s regularity, reaching the hurdle of the last two shots with an important quality of 1.8 dots on blue. It is at this point that Paolo Monna brought out talent and strong nerves: the 10.5 on the 23rd shot put pressure on the Slovakian (9.5), who finally capitulated in the decisive last shot, 10.3 for Monna and 9.3 for Tuzinsky. The roar of the audience was followed by the graphics: Monna 239.9, Tuzinsky 239.8. It’s an Italian triumph by just a tenth of a point, the first gold medal of these European Championships.
“It was a wonderful race and a crazy emotion – stated Costantino Vespasiano, President of Uits, at the end of the race -, a race that was tight right down to the last shot, always with my heart in my throat. Paolo started off great, then he He had a moment of uncertainty but in the end he recovered very well.” Tomorrow, on the Hungarian shooting lines, it will be the turn of the individual rifle competitions: in the men’s competition with Danilo Dennis Sollazzo, one of the favorites for the medals and already in possession of the Olympic pass, and Edoardo Bonazzi, in the women’s competition with Sofia Ceccarello.
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