Lima 2023: Txakartegi dedicates gold to wife/assistant

Spain’s Ager Solabarrieta Txakartegi’s ensured his wife’s years of unwavering support did not go unrecognised when he dedicated his second gold medal to her at the Lima 2023 World Para Sport Shooting Championships on Monday (25 September).

The visually impaired athlete hugged his spouse, Maite Badiola, who works as his assistant, after he won the VIS – mixed 10m air rifle VI standing following a shootout with Poland’s defending world champion, Barbara Moskal. 

The victory came days after he retained his world title in the VIP – mixed 10m air rifle prone SH-VI at the Las Palmas Air Base shooting range.

“I think one of these gold medals is Maite’s,” said Txakartegi. “Her support means everything to me, without her I couldn’t go to train, I couldn’t go to the ranges. 

“She is also my psychological support; [she’s my] everything. We use an audio signal [in shooting]. The sound changes and Maite tells me where I am shooting, so I can know if I am shooting to the right, to the left, up or down. I can’t see, so she is my eyes.

“The gold medal is fantastic, incredible,” the elated athlete continued. “If one gold is already amazing, imagine how I feel with two. Coming here I expected to have big results, but not this big. I think I now deserve a good vacation.”

Maite, who stood next to her husband on the medal podium, also expressed her delight and pride: “I’m really happy because this is the result of many years of work, especially this year. For me it is something normal, if the family doesn’t support you, who will? In the end we are a team.”

Txakartegi’s previous highest VIS place in a World Championships was sixth in the last edition in Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. In Lima, he was in outstanding form, topping the leaderboard for the final four elimination rounds. 

Moskal, the reigning Rotterdam 2023 European Champion, had also shot consistently well but could not match the Spanish athlete’s 10.7 in the penultimate round. 

Txakartegi, who finished second behind Moskal in Rotterdam last month, signed off on 214.1 to Moskal’s 211. Croatia’s Fran Skracic, who claimed silver in the VIP event, took home the bronze in 189.6.

Rifle gold for Slovakia and Sweden

The jubilant scenes following the last shot were among the highlights of the fourth day of competition, which also included wins for Slovakia, Sweden and Turkey.

There were two 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 events - one of the longest events at the Championships - which tests athletes’ shooting abilities in the standing, sitting and prone positions.

In the men’s R7, Slovakia’s Radoslav Malenovsky upgraded the silver he won at last year’s edition in Al Ain to win gold.

Apart from the opening series in the kneeling position, which was led by South Korea’s Jangho Lee, the 36-year-old dominated the rest of the event to close on 454.4. Lee, who won bronze in the R1 – men’s air rifle standing SH1, remained in second place on 452.8. 

The South Koreans were out in force in the final with Lee’s compatriots Jinho Park, who has also picked up individual gold and silver medals in Lima, and Sungchul Ju taking third and fourth place, respectively. 

“I am so happy to win. It took so much effort, but it was worth it” said Malenovsky, who also won a quota place for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. 

“Usually, I am much better in the first series, but then I realised what was wrong and I put that right. I came to Lima earlier for a training camp and I can say that I am more than happy with how everything went here.

“Preparations going forward to the Paralympics will be really tough because we know what we can expect there. But first I will celebrate my win with some dinner. It has been a very long day.”

The women’s R8 equivalent also included a heavyweight field of champions. It was won by Sweden’s Anna Benson, who reclaimed her crown from the Sydney 2019 edition. The 39-year-old, who was also the winner at the 2023 Changwon World Cup in May, fought off Poland’s reigning world champion Emilia Babska, who had led the kneeling and prone rounds, to finish in 460.5 to 457.1.

“This is my best event so I had high expectations going into the final, but the other women are so great, that anything can happen,” said Benson. “You can be shooting really good, and the athletes are shooting much better, so winning this gold feels really great.” 

Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop had to overcome a strong challenge from Ukraine’s Iryna Shchetnik, the silver medallist in Al Ain and a reigning European champion, before securing third place. The 31-year-old right-handed shooter added the bronze medal to the silver she had won in the R3 – mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1 in Lima.

China’s reigning Paralympic champion, Cuiping Zhang, who also won gold in Lima in the R10 – mixed team 10m air rifle standing SH1 - came fifth with her compatriot Yixin Zhong, the newly crowned R2 world champion, in sixth. 

South Korea’s Yunri Lee came seventh and Paralympic legend Veronika Vadovicova was in eight place.

Turkish delight

In the last final of the day Turkey’s Aysel Ozgan punched the air after she retained her world title on the final shot in the P2 – women’s 10m air pistol SH1 competition. 

The 45-year-old, who has a vibrant blue streak in her hair, was tied on 213.6 with France’s Gaelle Edon as they went into the gold medal round. 

Edon, who had led for almost all of the competition, won the first of the two shots with 10.1 to Ozgan’s 9.8, but the order was reversed in the second round when she scored a 9 to the Turkish athlete’s 10.1 on 233.5 to 232.7.

Cheers rang out across the arena from the Turkish team who were out in force to support their right-handed shooter and her compatriot Aysegul Pehlivanlar, who took the bronze medal. Ukraine’s Iryna Liakhu, who won the event at the Sydney 2019 edition, had fought hard for a podium place but finished just outside the medals in fourth.

“I am really, really happy to be champion for the second time,” said Ozgan. “It was very close at the end, but I didn’t give up.”

The Lima 2023 World Championships, which runs until Thursday (28 September), is streamed live on the World Shooting Para Sport website and Facebook page. Live results are available here.

You can follow all the action from Lima 2023 and go behind the scenes on the World Para Shooting Sport social media channels on Instagram and Twitter.