Day 10 of the Shooting Competition coming up today from the National Shooting Centre in Chateauroux, France…
SKEET MIXED TEAMS QUALIFICATION AND FINALS
AUSTRALIAN ATHLETES COMPETING:
JOSHUA BELL & AISLIN JONES
Competition commences at 9:00am Local (CEST) / 5:00PM AEST!
The Mixed Team Bronze Medal Match begins at 3.00pm Local (CEST) / 10.00 AEST, followed by the Gold Medal Match
LEARN A BIT ABOUT THE SKEET MIXED TEAMS EVENT
Athletes wield 12 gauge shotguns, aiming at clay targets released from two houses situated at opposite ends of the shooting field. During qualification, athletes shoot from eight stations, targeting a total of 150 clays (75 targets each). They shoot down single and/or double targets before moving to the next station. Precision, accuracy, and adaptability are essential as athletes navigate through the rounds. The top 4 teams advance to the final rounds, where they confront 48 additional targets. Depending on the station, the athletes shoot down 1 or 2 doubles, meaning they always call for 2 targets at the same time. The top two teams will enter a Gold Medal Match, while the 3rd and 4th teams will enter a Bronze Medal Match.
SEE THE START LIST AND FOLLOW RESULTS
READ MORE ABOUT AUSTRALIAN SHOOTING HISTORY HERE
The sun stayed behind the clouds for the remaining 50 targets of Skeet Women’s qualification.
Aislin Jones added to her Day One score of 67 out of 75 targets, with rounds of 23 and 22, resulting in a total qualification score of 112 out of 125. Aislin finished in 25th place.
“It has been an interesting couple of days with different conditions on both days. Today was overcast which actually made for a really nice background,” she said.
“I am happy with the way I finished today, ending on a positive note and knowing what I can take into my second event tomorrow.”
Aislin made her Olympic debut in Rio where the total number of qualification targets was 75.
For her second Games in eight years, Aislin believes increasing the qualification targets for women to 125 was a positive change.
“Going from 75 to 125 targets was such a positive change and made it the same number of targets for men and women,” she said.
“To be honest it is great to be able to shoot two days of competition instead of travelling all around the world for just one day.”
In comparing the competition between men and women, Aislin noted the rise of women in both trap and skeet events.
“You can now see some of the scores for women are comparable to the men. I think this is fantastic to see,” she said.
“Eight years on for me, from my first Olympic Games, I have really worked on being able to acknowledge an error in a round and come back from it.
“It is a true testament to the experience I have had and I can now back myself, knowing that I am capable.”
With individual competition now complete for Aislin, her focus turns to the Skeet Mixed Teams event, where she will compete with Aussie teammate Joshua Bell.
“Mixed Teams has been an enjoyable event and I think Josh and I work really well together,” she said.
“We are still out there shooting individually but we can pull each other up when we need to and give that extra push when you need it. It is really nice to support each other in that way.”
On the 25m range today, in his second Olympic Games campaign, Melbourne local Sergei Evglevski competed in the Rapid-Fire Pistol event.
The shortest qualification across all the shooting events, Sergei fired 12 series of five shots in quick succession across eight, six and four second intervals.
He finished with a score of 573 out of a maximum 600. The minimum score required to qualify for the final was 585. The final will be contested on the last day of competition.
Coming up on Day 10, and the final day of competition for the Australian Team, Aislin and Joshua will compete in the Skeet Mixed Teams event starting at 5pm AEST.
