Alicante 2013: What to follow on day five

The last day of competition could see a Spanish or British rifle gold and a title battle for Olivera Nakovska-Bikova to follow her Paralympic triumph. 19 Oct 2013

Shooting - Bikova Skok rivalry Alicante 2013

Paralympic champion Olivera Nakovska-Bikova and current world record holder Anastaciia Skok will be challenging for gold in the P2 (women's 10m air pistol SH1) at Alicante 2013.

ⒸIPC

Editors note: This article has been amended due to to the competition schedule being finalised.

As we enter the last day of competition we will know if local man Juan Antonio Saavedra will have been successful in his bid for European glory, and if he can top his week off with another victory in the R6 (mixed 50m rifle prone SH1) against Brit Matt Skelhon.

Olivera Nakovska-Bikova of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will also be looking to follow up her historic victory in the P2 from London 2012 in the beautiful setting of Alicante, Spain.

Friday, 25 October

R6 (mixed 50m rifle prone SH1)

Elimination round one – 09.00 – 10.00 (local time)

Elimination round two – 11.00 – 12.00 (local time)

Qualification round – 13.45 - 14.45 (local time)

Final – 15.30 - 16.15 (local time)

Five finallists from London will line-up in the R6, including Saavedra and Skelhon who picked up gold and silver respectively in 2012.

Also amongst the entrants is Radoslav Malenovsky who is currently ranked number one in Europe in this event. Despite finishing seventh in London, the Slovakian has improved his game this season and will be looking to beat Israel’s Doron Shaziri who finished just ahead of him.

Jonas Jacobsson has been talked about a lot in relation to Alicante 2013, being one of the greatest shooters of all time with 17 Paralympic medals to his name. He narrowly missed out on a medal in London in the R6 though, finishing fourth, and will be looking to put that right.

P2 (women’s 10m air pistol SH1)

Preliminary – 09.00 -10.00 (local time)

Final – 10.45 -11.30 (local time)

In a recent interview with Paralympic.org, Olivera Nakovska-Bikova of Macedonia talked openly about her journey to London 2012 and winning her country’s first gold under the guidance of coach and fellow shooter Branimir Jovanovski.

They have an incredible story between them, but Nakovska Bikova has long since stepped out of the shadow of Jovanovski and in Alicante will be looking to cement the status she gained in London.

Her challengers include Russian Marina Klimenchenko who collected silver in London and of course Ukrainian current world record holder, Anastaciia Skok, who currently shares the world number two ranking with Nakovska-Bikova and Olga Mustafaieva, also from Ukraine.

Skok broke the record at the 2013 IPC Shooting World Cup in Poland and shares the European number one spot with Nakovska-Bikova and Mustafaieva.

Rounding off the top names are Yelena Taranova of Azerbaijan and Russian Natalia Dalekova.

You can follow live results from the 2013 IPC Shooting European Championships, as well as updates and behind the scenes pictures through IPC Shooting on Twitter @IPCShooting and on Facebook.com/IPCShooting.