Russell Mark. Photo / Getty Images
An airline has lost the prized unique gun of Australia's Olympic shooting champion Russell Mark.
In a significant blow to his London Olympic ambitions, Qantas lost Mark's one-of-a-kind gun between Melbourne and Serbia.
Mark checked his customised $AU15,000 rifle and ammunition on to his Qantas flight at Melbourne airport on
Monday, shooting officials say.
But on arrival in the Serbian capital Belgrade for an important pre-Olympics shoot, the gun was missing.
And so was the gun of Mark's wife, Australian skeet shooting champion Lauren, and some 150 rounds of ammunition.
The Marks were due to contest a European grand prix in Belgrade, an event where Olympic quota points are on offer for the Australians.
The more points a shooter earns, the more likely they're to make next year's London Olympic team.
The nation's peak sport shooting body, Australian International Shooting Limited, on Wednesday said it was liaising with Qantas to find the lost gun.
It could take Mark, the 1996 Olympic champion, the next six months to get a replacement gun made - a crucial pre-Olympics period, a spokesman for the body said.
"It pretty much takes six months to get a new set-up - get used to a new gun and everything, get the configurations right, get it made," the spokesman said.
"So it's a long process, especially looking to the Olympics, all the qualifying is going to happen in the next few months."
Mark's event in Serbia starts Friday, while Lauren was disqualified from her event starting Wednesday.
Mark will still have three remaining events where Olympic quota points are available, including September's world titles and the Oceania championships in November.
"Qantas has been a long-term and proud supporter of the Australian Olympic team and we are extremely apologetic that Russell and his wife Lauryn's luggage hasn't arrived at Belgrade and the impact this has had on them competing," a Qantas spokesperson said in a statement.
"Our baggage services team is confident that the luggage arrived in Frankfurt. We have been working to try to track down the luggage and our staff will be working through the night."
Qantas later confirmed a staff member in Frankfurt had located the guns in a locked cupboard at Frankfurt Airport.
- AAP
