Danilo Sollazzo already knows he’s going to the Olympics

Danilo Sollazzo already knows he’s going to the Olympics

Italy’s 2022 World Championships are starting off on the right foot. In fact, in the men’s 10m rifle competition, Danilo Dennis Sollazzo won the silver medal and, more importantly, one of the four Olympic cards available to him ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.

In the air rifle contest, the Italian was almost perfect: fourth in qualification, with a score of 631.9 points, and then able to have a Ranking Match closed in first place, at 262.7 points.

The Gold Medal Match, on the other hand, saw him run away in the score up to 13-9, only to suffer the comeback of India’s Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil, who eventually won 17-13 taking the gold; in a contest in which the bronze went to China’s Lihao Sheng (261.8 points in the Ranking Match). “My heart is pounding,” commented UITS President Costantino Vespasiano, “I wanted to share this joy with CONI President Giovanni Malagó, who communicated the news of this world silver medal and Olympic card live to the audience of the Ambrosetti conference taking place today in Milan, where he was busy. Today’s is an extraordinary outcome, given that our Danilo – in force at the Centro Sportivo Carabinieri – is still an athlete in the junior category, especially because in addition to winning the first pass for our team he fought with great grit and determination until he came close to the world title. Clearly, today’s results are the fruit of the work of our Technical Directors and all the technical staff with whom I constantly compare myself and to whom all my gratitude goes. I am sure that this is just the beginning of a great world expedition that will give us many more satisfactions. To Danilo and the whole team go my personal congratulations.”

Michele Bernardi and Simon Weithaler, the other two Italians in the race, finished 36th and 44th respectively.