For part of the ÖSB team, the start of the 2023 season will be the ISSF Grand Prix for air rifles and air pistols from last Friday to Sunday in Ruse, Slovenia. For the Austrian shooters – among them Marlene Pribitzer from Matzen – this competition was part of the internal European Championship qualification.
And the 26-year-old from the Weinviertel made an exclamation mark: The air rifle shooters started in the mixed team competition, where Pribitzer and Martin Strempfl started as Team Austria I. The two fought hard with a total of 627.7 points and thus came in eleventh. Strempfl contributed 313.4 and Pribitzer 313.3 rings.
In the individual women’s air rifle competition, the woman from Matzen was also the best Austrian, with 626.9 points and rank 23, she shot herself into the front third of the field of 76 shooters. “We’re heading in the right direction,” Pribitzer said happily. Finally, the team competitions were on the program.
Just missed the podium
The ÖSB women Olivia Hofmann (315.0), Sheileen Waibel (314.1) and Pribitzer (312.5) made a great start in the first qualification of the women’s team competition with the air rifle and stayed with 941.6 points for the time being undefeated.
In the second qualification, Hofmann (209.7), Waibel (209.5) and Pribitzer (207.7) scored a total of 626.9 points, achieving third intermediate position and qualification for the bronze match. There it was against Sweden, where the red-white-red selection around Pribitzer narrowly lost – fourth place!