The Erdinger wide shooter successfully fought his way through the qualification.
Ritten/Erding
– Felix Karpfinger has reached his first stage goal: The 18-year-old Erdinger stock athlete took second place in the competition in Ritten (South Tyrol) and thus qualified for the U19 European Championships in long-distance shooting.
However, Karpfinger did not survive the competition completely unscathed.
"The weather in South Tyrol was really nice, but it was freezing cold in the morning and I caught a bad cold," he says in a hoarse voice.
"But I still got through the competition well and in the end it went very well."
The DESV specialist and the two national coaches had invited the 30 best long-distance shooters in the U16, U19 and U23 classes, as well as women and men, to the qualification course in the Ritten Arena.
20 shots had to be fired in two days, and points were awarded for each one.
In the U19s, Karpfinger started as second in the rankings.
Eight runs were announced on Friday, "and I defended second place," says the 18-year-old.
Top favorite Johannes Michl from SV Pocking was in first place, and he didn't show any weakness on the second day of the competition either.
"I woke up on Saturday with a headache, a sore throat and a cough," reports Karpfinger, who was nevertheless able to confirm his performance from the day before.
"Every shot worked, I kept shooting even though I was hurt," said Erdinger happily.
"That almost surprised me a bit."
Three shots were fired in the morning, "and after that I already knew that I was safe and mathematically nothing could happen anymore".
And so he was able to take the last nine shots in the afternoon quite easily.
In the end, the second place was officially sealed, behind Michl, who also consistently showed his trumps.
The Reschberger brothers Kilian and Mike, who compete for EC Lampoding and finished third and fourth, also qualified for the European Championships.
How is Karpfinger going now?
"First get over a cold and get well," says the 18-year-old with a laugh.
"And then focus on the European Championships." It will be held in Carinthia on the last weekend in February.
"Actually, it should take place at Goggausee, but maybe it should be moved to Weißensee," knows Karpfinger and adds: "But ultimately I don't care - I'm looking forward to it."
