Another Olympics beckons for Repacholi after gold medal win

Dan Repacholi staked a decisive early claim for selection to a fifth Olympic Games when winning the first men’s 10m Air Pistol final in the Tokyo Olympic Games pistol nomination event at the Brisbane International Shooting Centre today.

The big, burly pistol athlete from Cessnock in NSW showed his class when scoring 240.1 points ahead West Australians Bailey Groves (234.5) and Mike Giustiniano (211.9).

Earlier, Repacholi qualified for the final with an impressive score of 569 – six shots ahead of Groves (563).

Repacholi attended the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games without returning home with a medal and, if he wins selection for Tokyo, is hellbent on adding to Australia’s medal tally.

Repacholi indicated that he would retire after winning the men’s 10m Air Pistol gold medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, but the lure of another Olympics proved to be too powerful.

“I’m not spending all this time away from my beautiful wife and kids just to get another tracksuit,” said Repacholi.

“I’ve got enough of them. I want to win and stand on the dais,” he said.

Repacholi said he has been working on ensuring he begins his finals in strong fashion.

“I got away to a good start today but the last few shots weren’t what I was after,” he said.

In the women’s 25m Pistol final, Victoria’s Elena Galiabovitch (28 targets) claimed her second gold medal of the weekend when scoring a comfortable victory ahead of South Australia’s Alison Heinrich (21) and Queensland’s Civon Smith (16).

Galiabovitch won the women’s 10m Air Pistol on Friday and was runner-up in the event yesterday.

Galiabovitch, a 2016 Rio Olympian, qualified for the final in second position after completing the session behind Smith.

The Melbourne doctor, who won the silver medal in the event at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, found the right medicine for the final while Smith was unable to match her qualifying form.

The pistol shooters will contest the next round of the Olympic Games nomination events in Brisbane on March 6, 7 and 8.

Shooting Australia