Another medal for the Czech Olympic team hangs in the air in Tokyo, and maybe not just one! Shotgun shooters Jiří Lipták and David Kostelecký fought their way to the six-member final in a trap. Acting European vice-champion Lipták was the only one to hit 124 of the 125 targets and won the two-day qualification, the owner of the gold from the 2008 Beijing Games Kostelecký made one more mistake. The fight for precious metals will start at 8:30 CEST, you can watch it in a detailed online report on Sport.cz.
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Jiří Lipták won the qualification of trap shooting.
Alex Brandon, ČTK / AP
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Kostelecký has already won the fourth Olympic final. Before his triumph in Beijing 13 years ago, he was sixth in Sydney 2000 and fourth in the last games in Rio de Janeiro. Lipták, on the other hand, will have his premiere in the fight for medals, he finished 18th in London.
The last time two Czechs presented themselves in the trap trap was in 1992, when the later winner Petr Hrdlička and Pavel Kubec shot for medals in Barcelona.
Today, Lipták continued the successful Wednesday part, in which he hesitated only on the 47th blow. Since then, he has been flawless, hitting all the remaining 78 targets. After his competitors, led by Kuwaiti Abdulrahman Faihan, made a mistake, the native of Brno settled safely in the lead and the tense moments ceased even at the very end of the qualification, which he ended up as one of the last.
David Kostelecký during the trap shooting qualification.
Ann Wang, Reuters
Although Kostelecký made two mistakes in Wednesday’s three sections, he, like Lipták, was infallible today and ended the qualification with a series of 64 hits.
Forty-six-year-old Kostelecký is the oldest Czech Olympian in the team for the second time in a row and participates in the Sixth Games. He thus balanced the Czech maximum, which he now shares with rowers Jiří Pták and Václav Chalupa, cross-country skier and biker Kateřina Neumannová and water slalom skier Štěpánka Hilgertová.
Slovak with a world record
The Slovak Zuzana Rehák Štefečeková became the world record holder in the qualification, who was the first to hit all 125 shots. Before the final fights, she became the main favorite not only for gold, but also for the first medal of the Slovak team at this year’s games.
The women’s final starts an hour before the men at 7:30.
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