Elisabetta Mijno bronze in the individual open recurve bow: how the competition went · Paris Paralympic Games 2024
The race for the fourth Paralympic medal in his career Elisabetta Mijno it started with a clear 6-0 win over the Australian Amanda Jenningswinning all three sets (29 and 28 in the first two).
There’s no story even in the quarter-finals, against the Pole Milena Olszewska: three sets taken home without any particular problems and the certainty of being able to fight until the end for an individual podium that has been awaited for over a decade.
The ambition for Paralympic gold of the Piedmontese surgeon – passionate about the TV series Scrubs and a fan of Queen – crashes against the Chinese woman Wu Yangdespite an almost perfect first set by the Italian (10, 10 and 9). The opponent overturns the result in the next two sets and needs another 29 from Mijno to go all out in the fifth set.
The possibility of playing the final in the final shoot-out is extinguished by a millimetre: Mijno doesn’t start very well (8 and 7), but with a final 10 he puts pressure on Wu Yang, who after a 9 and an 8 manages to win the set with a 9 in line. And so, although the number of points of the Italian is greater, the set count leaves no escape for the Italian, who in 2023 set the world record in the round ranking of 72 arrows (674 points).
No gold – that went to another Chinese woman, Wu Chunyan – but the chance for a medal is still alive and the 38-year-old Italian doesn’t intend to let it slip away.
Against Demberel Selengeeonce again, the start is difficult (8, 8 and 7 in the first set) and Mijno has to recover. But the comeback is there and it is perfect, like the triple ten of the second set with which he equalizes the score.
The triple nine of the third set was enough to take the lead, because the opponent did not go beyond 24 points and then finally gave up in the decisive set. The blue player starts with two tens, but on the other side the arrow goes twice to red, double eight.
Last shot: Demberel goes on six, Mijno is now virtually a Paralympic bronze medalist, but to make sure he doesn’t miss anything, he goes for yellow. Another 29, to finish on a high note and set foot on the individual Paralympic podium again, from London to Paris, 12 years later.
