Paris Olympics 2024: Gabriele Rossetti and Diana Bacosi secure gold in mixed team skeet

Gabriele Rossetti and Diana Bacosi had won the men and women’s skeet event respectively at Rio 2016.

Italy claimed the final shooting sport gold of the Paris Olympics 2024 in the first mixed team skeet event to be held at the Olympics as Gabriele Rossetti and Diana Bacosi earned a tense 45-44 win against the United States pairing reckoned as favourites, Vincent Hancock and Austen Smith.

China won the bronze at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre after Jiang Yiting combined with Lyu Jianlin for a 44-43 win against the Indian pair of Maheshwari Chauhan and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka. Thus China, top of the medals table at the Tokyo 2020 Games, retained its position with a total of 10 medals, comprising five golds, two silvers and a bronze.

The Republic of Korea, joint 12th in Tokyo, finished second with five medals – three gold and three silver – followed by the United States, replicated their third place with a gold, three silvers and a bronze for a total of five.

Italy, also joint 12th in Tokyo, finished fourth overall in France thanks to a superbly composed showing from the pair representing them in the event that took over from trap as the third mixed team event in the Paris 2024 shooting sport programme.

The United States pair, world champions and winners at the Lonato World Cup shortly before the Games began, had also experienced individual success at these Games, with the 35-year-old Hancock earning a historic fourth gold and his protégé Smith, 23, taking bronze in yesterday’s skeet women final behind Chile’s Francisca Crovetto Chadid and Amber Rutter of Great Britain.

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Conversely both the Italian athletes had failed to reach the individual finals, with Diana Bacosi finishing 15th in qualification and Gabriele Rossetti, agonisingly, missing out by one place in seventh. What the Italian pair did have however was class and experience – and the knowledge of how to win an Olympic title.

Diana Bacosi, 41, won skeet women gold at the Rio 2016 Games and silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games; Gabriele Rossetti, 29, took the individual skeet men title in Rio, completing the Italian double. Thus as competition began in perfect conditions in front of a packed stand the Italians were able to proceed with quiet confidence.

They took an early lead when Smith missed the fourth of her first series of four shots. The Italians’ first miss came through Bacosi, leaving them on 23 out of 24 and giving the United States the opportunity to draw level with their sequence of four shots each.

Hancock disposed of his four clays, but Smith missed her third to keep the European pairing in the lead 23-22. Another miss by Smith in the next sequence offered Italy the chance to extend their lead to two, and perfect shooting by Gabriele Rossetti and Diana Bacosi saw them move ahead 31-29.

A second miss by Diana Bacosi in the next sequence then gave the US pair the opportunity of narrowing the gap, but – to a gasp of consternation – Hancock missed on his fourth effort. Smith, his protégé, had to step up to keep them in with a chance, and did so, scoring all four of her shots to keep the Italian lead to 38-36 as the competition moved into its final scheduled sequence of eight shots.

The United States went first – and were perfection, with Smith, courageously, finishing things off and bringing their final total to 44 and putting the pressure on the Italian pair to bring home gold.

Immediately there was murmur of dismay on the course as Gabriele Rossetti missed his first clay of the final with the first of his four efforts – but he steadied to shatter the next three.

So Diana Bacosi stepped up requiring to bring all her huge powers of concentration to bear, needing to hit all four targets to earn her country gold. She did so after taking a moment to compose herself between the first and second pair before waving her left fist and embracing her team-mate.

“We told ourselves we were going to face a big challenge,” said Diana Bacosi. “We had hope between each other, and we trusted each other. Of course, with such great teammates, it’s easier to win a medal.”

Asked about needing to hit her final four shots to secure gold for Italy she added: “We did it together. I was not alone during the whole competition. We supported each other. We have achieved this medal together, and we couldn’t win it by ourselves alone.”

Gabriele Rossetti commented: “We also already had a successful competition before, so we knew we could face such a stressful challenge.”

Reflecting on Italy’s strong showing with four total shooting medals at Paris 2024 he said: “We achieved this as a team, and we are really happy about the delegation’s performance, including shooting. This gold is really something that’s coming at the end of the whole effort.”

Asked about the experience of partnering her coach and mentor in competition, Smith responded: “It is honestly what I was looking forward to all week, just being able to shoot with him.

“I didn’t think this event would ever exist. I just thought I would be watching him, and he’d be watching me. But competing together, it is just like we train at home. It was not our day today, but I am just delighted to shoot with him.” 

Hancock commented: “I think we did everything we could. It was their day. We have gone something like four from four until today and won every team gold we have gone for. We’ve done everything we could possibly ask for. 

“She (Smith has just come off a super-emotional day yesterday (bronze in the women’s skeet) and I am just so proud of her for hanging in there for me today. I was trying to do the best I could do – that’s all we can ever do.

“When we are shooting at our best, we know nobody can beat us. We have won too many times and proved it.  “The big thing is we have both had some pretty emotional days these last couple of days, winning our individual medals. For her to have such a quick turnaround, she battled today and did an awesome job.

“I just tried to be there for her and do as good as I could. That is how we work together – we just want to be better for each other.” 

China’s victory in the bronze-medal match was also hugely dramatic. After eight shots both teams had missed three targets as Jiang Yuting scored only one in her second sequence of four, while India’s Anant Naruka missed with his second and sixth attempts and Maheshwari was unsuccessful with her eighth.

At 13-13, Chuahan produced another miss with the last of her third sequence – and that proved decisive as China closed things out without further blemish.

China’s Lyu said he and his team-mate were “so happy and excited” to win bronze, adding: “We had our country in our mind, and we didn’t want to lose.” Commenting on the fact that China had finished top of the Olympic shooting sport medals table again, he said: “It is such a pleasure and such a great thing to be on top. We are becoming stronger and going higher, just like the other (Chinese) athletes in this Olympics.”

India’s Chauhan commented: “I think we worked great together, but China shot really well. It was just by one point (44-43) so it is a bit disappointing. “We wanted to take a medal back home, but we are really happy with our performance, especially in the qualification.”

Naruka added: “It was just a great experience. In qualification, we backed each other up after each station and told each other we could do it. “Sometimes in the finals, you don’t always perform. It was very close, and we fought to the end, but China was better today.”

On India finishing with three bronze medals and two fourth places after no medals in Tokyo, he said: “I think we are getting closer to a gold medal. It was a great performance by all our athletes. I think we did a great job. We are putting in all the hard work and it is going to be better in LA.”

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