Like so many of his shooting and wider Australian Olympic teammates, preparations were laced with uncertainty because of the COVID-19 pandemic which saw the Games eventually postponed by 12 months while international travel restrictions blocked pre-Games overseas competition.

Within days of Shooting completing its Olympic Nomination Series in March 2020, the Tokyo Games were postponed. However, since Shooting Australia’s Olympic Nomination Series was completed prior to the postponement announcement, his Olympic team selection was confirmed a month later.

It was a gruelling 17-month waiting game until the Games commenced – enough to test the steely calm and patience of any veteran shooting athlete.

If that wasn’t difficult enough, Sergei then had to watch his teammates depart for Tokyo while he viewed the beginning of the Games on TV because his 25m rapid fire pistol event was the last on the shooting program and athletes were prevented from arriving in the Olympic Village until shortly before competition.

“I had been eager for the Games to begin for so long, but with my event at the end of the program and being unable to arrive in the Village early because of the restrictions, there was a bit of FOMO [fear of missing out],” Sergei said.

Although the Olympics were his first, he had the fortune to draw on the wise counsel of his mother, Lalita Yauhleuskaya who attended five Olympic Games – two for her native Belarus and three for Australia - plus his 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games experience where he claimed a silver medal.

While Sergei had travelled the world competing in ISSF Junior and Senior World Cups and Junior World Championship events since 2015, the Tokyo Games were completely different.

“Tokyo was an interesting experience as we couldn’t compete internationally beforehand. It was tough going into the Games not knowing what to expect,” he said.

“The Olympics wasn’t the same as a World Cup or World Championship. It was on a much bigger level. But something was missing with no crowds and the lack of atmosphere.”

Prior to the Olympics, Sergei’s performances indicated he would be competitive in Tokyo, particularly after registering four consecutive scores of 580 and over, including a personal best score of 584 which would have been good enough to qualify for the final at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

But in Tokyo Sergei managed a score of 572 to be placed 17th. A score of 582 would have earned a place in a shoot-off to qualify for the final.

With a taste of his first Olympics, Sergei is keen for more. At only 26 years of age, young by international shooting standards, he has youth and ability to attend multiple Games in the future.

When international travel barriers were lowered, Sergei set off immediately to seek more top level international competitions including the 2022 ISSF World Championships in Cairo where he finished 25th with a score of 576.

In 2023, he earned his first senior World Cup medal, silver, when runner-up in Jakarta and later finished 13th in the ISSF World Championship in Baku with a score of 582 – just one point off a place for a shoot-off to qualify for the six-man final.

Under the guidance of national pistol coach, Vladimir Galiabovitch, Sergei is looking to the commencement of the Olympic Team Nomination Series which begins on Friday 12 January.

He will also travel to Rio de Janeiro in late March for an Olympic qualification event, followed by ISSF World Cup meets in Baku in May and in Munich in June.

He received a reality check when runner-up to Western Australia’s Scott Anderson at the Oceania Championships in November after easily topping the qualifying round with a world-class score of 580.

“I don’t think I was mentally prepared for the final. I may have been a bit too cocky.

“My performances domestically have dropped off, but internationally they are higher which is where you want to be.”

While he is currently ranked 19th in the world, his Qantas ticket for the Paris Olympics is yet to be booked and Sergei is determined to win selection for a second Games.

“It would mean that my hard work is paying off and that I am performing well, and I deserve to be there.”

This time around, he will be hoping for an uninterrupted Olympic experience.

Greg Campbell