Perfect Azmy Mehelba crowned men's skeet world champion as four countries book Paris 2024 quota spots

A perfect medal round saw Egypt's Azmy Mehelba score 40 out of 40 to claim the skeet shooting world title at the ISSF World Championship Shotgun 2022, an Olympic Games Paris 2024 qualifier, in Croatia on Sunday (9 October).

Three-time Olympic gold medallist Vincent Hancock missed just one target midway through the medal match so could do nothing to prevent Mehelba from claiming a perfect hit in the final round. Third placed Rashid Al-Athba of Qatar rounded out the podium.

Sweden's Stefan Nilsson finished fourth but claimed a Paris 2024 quota place for his nation alongside Mehelba, Hancock and Al-Athba for Egypt, USA, and Qatar, respectively.

Men's skeet world championship – results

The only way to beat five-time world champion Hancock is aim for perfection, which is exactly what Mehelba managed to do, hitting 40 out of 40 shots to claim the men’s skeet world title at the Pampas shooting range in Osijek.

A miss on the sixth station put to bed the 33-year-old’s hopes of a sixth world title but he was quick to congratulate his opponent whose previous best result in this competition was a bronze medal in 2014.

Al-Athba, a two-time Olympian in trap at Athens 2004 and London 2012, missed just one additional shot to Hancock, bowing out of the competition for first and second place, with 28 hits out of 30.

Nilsson will be ruing his early misses in the final, claiming just two out of four at the first station, the frustration evident as the 2019 skeet team world champion had gone clear in the qualifying round.

Czech Republic’s Radek Prokop put in a good account of himself as he came within two shots of making the final, just missing the target when it mattered most.

The coach of 2016 Olympic champion, Gabriele Rossetti, meanwhile hit his chair in frustration after the Italian went out in the first ranking round and there was disappointment too for USA’s Christian Elliott and Eric Delaunay of France, the 2018 skeet team world champion, who also did not make the medal round.

Women's skeet world champion Italy's Diana Bacosi

Italy’s Diana Bacosi clinched victory in the women's skeet final at the ISSF World Championship Shotgun 2022, an Olympic Games Paris 2024 qualifier, in Croatia on Sunday (9 October) defeating Great Britain’s Amber Hill.

American Sam Simonton took bronze while Slovakia’s Vanesa Hockova finished off the podium in fourth.

Bacosi, Simonton and Hockova also claimed Paris 2024 quota places for their nations – Italy, USA, Slovakia, respectively – by finishing in the top two in their ranking matches and qualifying for the final.

Due to Hill already having qualified a place for Great Britain after becoming European champion last month, the next best finisher, Iryna Malovichko bagged a spot for Ukraine.

ISSF World Championship Shotgun Osijek 2022: Skeet Mixed Team, and Men's and Women's Team competitions schedule and start times

Medal events in bold. All times are local to Osijek, Croatia, which is Central European Summer Time (CEST), and two hours ahead of GMT/UTC.

Monday 10 October 2022

• 08:00 – 14:20 CEST - Skeet Mixed Team
• 16:00 CEST onward – Final Skeet Mixed Team – Watch on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com live.

Tuesday 11 October 2022

• 08:00 – 14:20 CEST - Skeet Team Men
• 08:00 – 14:20 CEST - Skeet Team Women
• 15:30 CEST onward – Final Skeet Team Women
• 16:25 CEST onward – Final Skeet Team Men

All times are subject to change. Full schedule available on ISSF website here.

The shotgun world championships are followed by the World Championship Rifle/Pistol in Cairo (12-25 October), which is also a Paris 2024 Qualifier and can be watched live on Olympic Channel.

How to watch the ISSF World Championship Shotgun Osijek 2022 Skeet competitions and Paris 2024 Qualifier finals

The finals which offer direct quota spots to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics will be live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com with replay and highlights clips also available.

Action from across the shotgun shooting world championships will be also televised via the organiser's broadcast and digital livestreaming partners, and via the ISSF livestream and YouTube channels. Full information can be found here.