Despite the tragic starting point, Aleksi Leppä managed an excellent performance in Olympic shooting, even though the place in the finals remained a dream.
Mika Halonen,
Simo Leinonen
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here. You can find the entire program of the games here.
Finnish sniper Aleksi Lepän29, the first Olympics are over.
On Sunday, he was the 22nd qualifier in the 10-meter air rifle. The eight best reached the final.
Now on Wednesday, Leppä shot a result of 586 in the 50-meter miniature rifle position competition (3×20 ls). It was enough for the qualification instead of 24. The result of 590 was required for the final of the top eight in the hard-level qualification.
The starting points for Lepä’s Olympic debut were known to be anything but easy. During the Olympics, Leppää, his close circle and Finnish shooting sports were met with great sad news.
Aleksi Lepä’s father and coach Marko Leppä died while on his way to watch his son’s races on Friday.
Marko Leppä, who died at the age of 59, was a famous coach, judge and competition organizer who worked at the Sports School of the Defense Forces as a coordinator of summer sports training and a coach of shooting sports.
I had to concentrate
After Wednesday’s competition, an athlete who gave his all and was satisfied with his performance came to the interview.
– Oh, I got so close? Okay, Leppä stated and smiled when he heard that he was four points short of the final place.
– I have to say that today I gave my all and fought until the very end. I was really close to a really good shot. A lot of such coughs right on the edge, not quite in their twenties. Overall a successful shooting and I tried to fight until the very last shot.
The beginning was a little tight. Leppä let out words of strength, when shooting from the knee, there was a cough. Alder gathered himself quickly. Prone shooting was smooth, as was vertical shooting.
– Overall, a very even and good race. Close… Even though there are a lot of points, but in terms of performance, close that it could have been a better result.
The weather was surprisingly windy.
– I shot quite a lot in anticipation. Had to concentrate a lot and watch the wind. Because of that, I also lost almost the entire shooting time. Had to be awake so much, how the wind blows.
“Dad would have been proud”
Considering everything that happened, the competitions were of course emotionally heavy for Leppa.
– They say it wasn’t the easiest starting point to compete at this level. I’m proud of myself that I was able to hold myself together and shoot until the end. I would still like to thank father for all these years, Leppä said with a trembling voice.
The greetings were sure to reach the edge of the cloud.
– That’s what I hope. I think dad would have been proud.
There has been a lot of encouragement and messages from other competitors, the Finnish Olympic team, and especially from my own family, which has been a great support.
– Yes, yes, it’s wonderful when there is family in the stands and supporters there. It’s not that common in our sport. Anyway, it’s nice when there’s an audience and you mess around, so to speak.