Tanguy de La Forest and Justine Bève at the foot of the podium

Never two without three… Tanguy de la Forest could not leave Châteauroux and the Paralympic Games any other way. After his magnificent Paralympic champion title won on Sunday (in the 10m prone rifle), which followed his silver medal on Friday (in the 10m standing rifle), the Breton qualified for his third final in three events, this Wednesday, September 4, this time in the 50m prone rifle (SH2).

Like Sunday, he suffered in qualifying a few hours earlier, even signaling to his team that he did not think his performance would be enough to open the doors to the final. Perhaps a sign, however, as Sunday, he finished in 7th^e place of the eight qualified.

Justine Bève leads the qualifications

Big difference with Sunday however, the French chances do not rest on the shoulders of the Breton alone. The Frenchwoman (the event is mixed) Justine Bève was a hit in qualifying by finishing first in the qualifiers, she is the only woman in the final.

Two Frenchmen among the eight finalists, this is unheard of at the CNTS, will this translate into new medals? The atmosphere is heating up, even if the entire de La Forest fan club was unable to extend their stay in Châteauroux. For such an event, Martin Fourcade is needed to strike all three blows.

First series of five leads: just behind the Georgian, we find the two French, it’s off to a flying start. Justine Bève improves her rank after the second series (2nd), the defending champion Ristic climbs onto the podium, relegating de La Forest to 4^e position.

We enter the elimination shootout, Justine is still in silver, Tanguy goes back to bronze, it’s super tight while the 8^e is out.

The Georgian leader is weakening, the Serbian is on the contrary stringing together good scores, the two Tricolors are 3 and 4^e with six shooters in the running. It is at this moment that Justine Bève unscrews somewhat (9.5 and 9.3), relegated to 6^e place and therefore eliminated.

All hopes of a medal now rest on de La Forêt, 4^e two tenths from the podium.

This is where nerves of steel are needed. With only four competitors left, de La Forest climbs back to third place. His 19^e shooting is unfortunately the worst of his final (9.9), it is too little to play for the medal.

Serbian Ristic retains his title, de La Forêt has to settle for 4th^e frustrating place. Fortunately, no one will come to take his two previous medals from him.