At the Ozzec 2022 World Skeet Championships, Great Britain and the United States were the absolute protagonists with three medals each in the junior category. Italy, poor in individual and team events, redeemed itself with bronze in the mixed team thanks to the Calardini-Paolacci pair.
The 2022 World Skeet Championships began under the banner of the United States and Great Britain. Two English-speaking countries won three awards each in the junior category of the competition. The British won gold in the women’s individual category, thanks to Sophie Herman’s performance in skeet with India’s Arepa Khan (30 to 29 goals out of 40 available). Romania’s Maria Ravega Islai won bronze with a total of 20 points.
The men’s test was dominated by the USA, with solid Benjamin Keller (122/125 in qualifying), who beat another Briton, Mitchell Brooker-Smith, in the final (34 goals to 32 goals). Czech Martin Wiselika, bronze, given a total score of 22/40, competes individually.
The Smith-Herman pair gave Britain another thrill by winning gold in the mixed team, defeating China’s Zhao and Wang 6-4. The team event provides the only consolation for Italy, having taken itself out of the race for medals in the individual and team events. Thirty-fifth individual qualifier Andrea Galardini with a total of 108 and twenty-fifth Damiana Pavlacci with a 94 saw them beat the Czech pair of Andrej Bresina and Adriana Zajkova in the shoot-out.
For the rest, it was a World Cup miser for the young blues: in the finals for individual events, all the “Azzurri” shooters (except Bernardini and Bongini, respectively, two and one goal from the target) were excellent. Far from the top eight that would guarantee access to the semi-finals, it did not fare well in the group event. Calardini, Coco and Bernardini in fifth place in the men’s category, USA’s Sapp-Burns-Keller trio won medals, Finland’s Beltomegi, Mykinen and Lehtimegi and India’s (three more medals, counting bronze) mixed team won against USA) Gill, Sekone and Bandela.
The girls, Pangini, Paolacci and Piccioli, finished fifth in the qualifiers, leaving Slovakia (bronze with Subekova-Zajicova-Hokkova), USA (silver for Labe, Fulton and Nelson) and China (gold with Yingxi) behind. Wang, Dan Wang, and Yahojia Zhu).
Senior matches start tomorrow. Italy has its biggest hopes in Diana Bagosi (gold in Rio, silver in Tokyo), Gabriel Rossetti (gold in Rio) and Ciara Cainero (gold in Beijing 2008 and silver in Rio). With four Olympic passes up for grabs, the “blue” national team is trying to make up for the woes experienced in the trap.
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