It’s been less than a month since the 1st edition of the European Games closed in Baku, Azerbaijan, and the world of Shooting sport already set its sights on Toronto, Canada, where another continental multi-sport event kicks off today: the 2015 Pan American Games.
The seventeenth edition of the event follows the ones held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2007, and in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2011, and it expects the fifteen Olympic shooting events to happen in a span of eight days: from July 12th to July 19th.
Here is the schedule of the fifteen finals:
Sunday, July 12th:
1:00 PM: 10m Air Pistol Men
2:00 PM: 10m Air Pistol Women
Monday, July 13th:
1:00 PM: 10m Air Rifle Men
2:00 PM: 10m Air Rifle Women
2:30 PM: Trap Women
Tuesday, July 14th:
2:30 PM: Trap Men
Wednesday, July 15th:
2:30 PM: 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men
3:30 PM: 25m Pistol Women
Thursday, July 16th:
3:00 PM: Double Trap Men
Friday, July 17th:
1:30 PM: 50m Pistol Men
2:45 PM: 50m Rifle Prone Men
Saturday, July 18th:
12:00 AM: 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women
2:30 PM: Skeet Women
Sunday, July 19th:
1:00 PM: 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men
2:30 PM: Skeet Men.
All times are CET+6.
246 shooter from 26 National Olympic Committees will be in Toronto, pairing almost exactly the number of competitors of the previous edition of the Games. The athletes, then, will compete not just for the precious medals at stake, but also for 20 Olympic quota places for Rio 2016. The Air Rifle Men and Women events will award two slots, so will do the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women and the Trap Men, while all other events will distribute one quota.
The Pan American country that collected the highest number of medals during the 2015 ISSF World Cup season are the United States, who notched 4 Golds, 1 Silver and 3 Bronzes in the Shotgun discipline; and 3 Golds, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze in the Rifle/Pistol.
Furthermore, two athletes of the USA Shooting team won multiple medals: Michael McPhail, who collected two Golds in the 50m Rifle Prone event, and Matthew Emmons, who won another Gold in the Rifle Prone, and 1 Silver and 1 Bronze in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions.