2024 Olympic Games, day 2: men's and women's 10m air pistol final and 10m air rifle qualification

Mona and Maldini — Paolo Monna (left) and Federico Nilo Maldini head to head in the 10m air pistol final. They alternated at the top, but were beaten by the Chinese Xie.

It was a great day for Italian shooting because it brought silver for Federico Nilo Maldini (240.0) and bronze for Paolo Monna in the 10m air pistol. It could have been gold and silver, but the two Italian shooters nonetheless achieved a great goal: a success with two medals had not happened since 1932 (Morigi's gold and Matteucci's bronze). Although the two Italian athletes were both in the lead for a large part of the match, in the end it was China's Yu Xie (240.9) who showed he knew how to control the tension better and took home the gold.

The two German finalists Robin Walter (left) and Christian Reitz came sixth and fifth.

Maldini and Monna were immediately in the lead of the 10m air pistol final. Monna scored 51.6 in the first series and Maldini 50.1, with all the others behind. Only Yu Xie held out. Monna proceeded confidently by holding 10 and Maldini recovered. At the end of the second series the Italians were in the top two positions (101.4 and 100.1). Third was the Chinese at 99.2. Mongolian Enkhtaivan was the first eliminated. On the 12th shot, Xie moved up to second place. Difference was of a tenth of point between the first three. A tie at the top on the 13th shot, when Maldini fell slightly behind and became third. Excellent 14th shot for both the Italians while the Chinese lost a whole point. Serbian Mikec, the reigning European champion who had dominated the qualification, was eliminated. On the 16th shot, the German Walter was also eliminated, Monna achieved 8.8, but recovered with 10.6, Maldini took the lead, Xie still third, while fourth was the Korean Lee. The other German Reitz was then eliminated. Four shooters remained. Monna achieved a 9.1 on the 19th shot, the Chinese was second between the two Italians. The Korean was eliminated. Unfortunately on the 20th shot Maldini landed a 9.0, Monna instead shot a 10.5 which brought him back up to within half a point of the Chinese who had just taken the lead. Monna again shot an 8.3 and won bronze, Maldini fought for the gold medal with Xie in the last two shots. The Chinese achieved 10.0 and Maldini 10.3: four tenths difference for gold. But the last shot was 9.5 for Maldini and 10.0 for Xie. Gold for the latter and silver for Maldini.

"These two medals are an immense satisfaction, a job that lasted two and a half years," commented Costantino Vespasiano, president of the Italian Target Shooting Federation. "We started from scratch and managed to create a group with wonderful individualities. I thank our champions: it is a gift for those who have always supported us and for the whole of sporting Italy."

"It is a dream come true," says Pierluigi Ussorio, Director of Olympic and Paralympic Training. "We have always believed in it. We did everything there was to do with seriousness, commitment and professionalism. I thank everyone, we have been wonderful".

ISSF air pistol winners — From left: Walter De Giusti, UITS secretary, Federico Nilo Maldini, UITS president Costantino Vespasiano and Paolo Monna.

The Italian double success was followed by another success, albeit a partial one: Danilo Dennis Sollazzo qualified for the 10m air rifle final. Sollazzo is safely between the eight shooters destined for the final, maintaining an average of 10.5, a slight setback in the fourth series (105.5-105.6-104.8-105.3), to finish still averaging 631.4 and in third place with 9.8, the worst shot of the day. Tomorrow will be a hard day, but Sollazzo is fit, focused and all bodes well. Better than him, so far, only China's Sheng and Argentina's Gutierrez (both 631.7).

The women's 10m air pistol final, which started punctually at 12.00 noon, once again saw a typically Asian line-up with two Koreans (Ye Jin Oh and Yeji Kim) in the top two places. Only Hungary's Veronika Major, who had entered the final as the best in the preliminary competition, remained in the competition as the EU representative, and was the first to be eliminated in eighth place. Doreen Vennekamp and Josefin Eder did not qualify for yesterday's final, finishing in 20th and 30th place respectively.