Jean Pierre Brol makes history with bronze, Guatemala’s second medal

Guatemalan Jean Pierre Brol (skeet shooting) wrote another page in the history of Guatemalan sport by winning the bronze medal in the trap final in Paris 2024, the second medal for his country at the Games, in which Britain’s Nathan Hales took gold and China’s Qi Ying took silver.

The youngest of the Brol Cárdenas brothers already competed in London 2012, where he finished in 28th place, the Games in which Guatemala celebrated the first medal in its history thanks to the silver medal of the walker Erick Barrondo in the 20 kilometers. Twelve years later, the one who climbed onto the podium this Tuesday was him.

Son of Fernando Brol, two-time continental medallist with bronze in 1994 and team gold this year, and brother of Enrique and Herbert, both Olympians in Rio 2016 in double trap, Jean Pierre, 41 years old and an agricultural engineer, completed a great performance at the Chaterauroux Shooting Centre.

Rounds

After three qualifying rounds yesterday (72), Brol completed the five on Tuesday with 122, one behind the first four, the Chinese Ying Qi, the British Nathan Hales, the Swede Rickard Levin-Andersson and the Australian James Willett, and was one of the six shooters who had to compete in a shoot off round to enter the final.

The first to drop out was the Australian James Willet (19), followed by the American Scott Mein Derrich (26) and the Swede Rickard Levin-Andersson (30).

Brol broke 35 plates, 9 less than the Chinese Qi Ying, who climbed onto the podium behind Nathan Hales, the new Olympic champion, aged 28, who qualified for Paris at the 2022 World Championships in Osijek (Croatia) and won gold again at the World Cup in Lonato (Italy) in 2023, with a world record (49).

Brand

His mark in Paris also marked a new Olympic record, dethroning that of the Czech David Kostelecky (43) achieved in Tokyo 2020.

His compatriot Jiri Liptak, Olympic champion in the Japanese capital, did not make it to the final in Paris, a date that will remain in the memory of Guatemalan sport.

Brol repeated last year the title of champion he already achieved in 2011 at the Pan American Games in Santiago in 2023, a competition in which he participated as an independent athlete due to the IOC sanction against his country.

Paris / EFE