Britain’s Seonaid McIntosh (pictured) laid down a significant Olympic marker In Munich as she won her third World Cup title in the 50m rifle 3 positions event ahead of two world champions and the world record holder.
And in the final event of the last World Cup to be held before Paris the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions title went to Norway’s 24-year-old Ole Martin Halvorsen after China’s world record holder Liu Yukin, who the previous day had equalled the qualifying world record of 597 points set last year by his compatriot Du Linshu, failed to reach the podium.
The finals were preceded by another prodigious display by Switzerland's 15-year-old Emely Jaeggi, who is set to become the youngest ever shooting sport Olympian in Paris, as she set a qualifying world record of 596 in the opening elimination relay.two days earlier. That mark was equalled in the following day's final qualification competition by China's eventual silver medallist Han Jiayu.
McIntosh established a clear margin of superiority from the very start of a final taking place on the last day of the last World Cup to be held before Paris 2024.
The 28-year-old Scot finished on 466.7 points, 4.1 ahead of Han, who won the world 10m air rifle title in Baku last year .
Bronze went to India’s Sift Kaur Samra, who set the world record of 469.6 at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.
McIntosh, who had qualified in seventh place, began the year with victory in this event at the Cairo World Cup, and added another gold at last month’s World Cup in Baku.
But having finished three points behind her Chinese rival in qualifying, the Briton moved decisively into the lead in the final, leading by 0.9 after the kneeling series and by 3.6 after the prone sequence.
Fourth place went to Han’s compatriot Zhang Qiongyue, who finished one place ahead of Rikke Ibsen of Denmark.
Norway’s 2023 World Cup Final champion Jeanette Hegg Duestad was sixth, with Yesugen Oyunbat of Mongolia seventh and Katie Zaun of the United States eighth.
Despite her stand-out effort on the opening day, Jaeggi could not advance to the final as she finished 16th once qualifying had been completed.
As the finalists lined up for the concluding event at the Olympic Shooting Range it seemed highly likely that Liu, who had twice improved the world record at the previous month’s Baku World Cup, would be collecting another gold following his qualifying performance.
But the 27-year-old showman, who has the world “LUCKY” emblazoned on one of the legs of his shooting outfit, never seemed to get into his rhythm and eventually finished fifth.
Halvorsen led the event from start to finish, totalling 464.3 to earn gold by 0.2 points from Hungary’s Istvan Peni.
Bronze went to Halvoresen’s compatriot Jon-Hermann Hegg, with the Czech Republic’s former world record holder Jiri Privratsky finishing fourth.
Konstantin Malinovskiy of Kazakhstan was sixth, with Milutin Stefanovic seventh and India’s Aishwary Tomar eighth.