Divine last minute surprise! Pit Klein is qualified for the Paris Games which will officially open on July 26 and close on August 11. At 27, the archer will have his first Olympic experience, putting the discipline back in the spotlight three years after Jeff Henckels’ presence in Tokyo.
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A bit like Luka Mladenovic, it was in the final straight that the archer took out the winning arrows from his bag to be one of the 64 lucky ones who will shoot at the Invalides on Thursday July 25, one day before the opening ceremony.
It all came down to Antalya with a first Olympic qualifying tournament where he shone while having bad luck. Having come out of the qualifiers, he inherited the Uzbek Amirkhon Sadikov in the quarter-finals. Beaten and finally eighth, he saw the qualification reserved for the top five slip away from under his nose.
There was still a World Cup round at the same place a week later. Two places remained to be distributed while taking into account the boys already qualified. Pit Klein overcame the first hurdle not without difficulty by qualifying among the 64 best archers on the field at the cost of a brilliant end to the session while Jeff Henckels and Jérôme Ansel remained at the dock.
Prestigious hunting table
Coming out 58th, he inevitably inherited a famous client in the first round. It was the American Brady Ellison that he was pulling, the double world champion, Olympic vice-champion and 5th in the world ranking. It was in the shoot-off that the Luxembourger won and saw his rating skyrocket.
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The Frenchman Jean-Charles Valladont was an opponent barely less prestigious than Ellison with a silver medal at the Rio Games and a former world number one position which did not frighten the Grand Ducal archer who distanced his rival 6- 2 to open the path to the round of 16 of a World Cup round for the first time in his career.
Canadian Eric Peters, 7th in the world, proved to be too tough a bone to chew but his ninth place in Turkey gave him points that made him climb spectacularly in the world rankings. With a gain of 18 places, he found himself 41st with 108 points, grabbing the very last qualifying place ahead of the unfortunate Finn Antti Tekionemi.
Ralph Daleiden also qualified
This qualification brought the number of athletes qualified for the Paris Games to 10. The athletes Patrizia Van Der Weken and Bob Bertemes were the first to rope. Christine Majerus and a man that the FSCL must designate in the coming hours will also be on the TGV in the company of Nicolas Wagner (dressage), Jeanne Lehair (triathlon), Luka Mladenovic, Sarah de Nutte and Ni Xia Lian (table tennis).
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In a press release sent this Tuesday late morning, the COSL also added swimmer Ralph Daleiden for the 100m freestyle without the main interested party having managed to achieve the minimums. The umbrella body of Grand Ducal sport has requested a universality place from World Aquatics, the international swimming federation.
Swimmer Ralph Daleiden qualified for the 100m freestyle. © PHOTO: Stéphane Guillaume
Several FLA athletes will try until the end to hang on to the right wagon: Charles Grethen (1,500 m), Charlines Mathias (800 m) and Vera Hoffmann (1,500 m) are on waivers a few days before the deadline set for July 8 .
2024-06-25 09:20:47
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