The ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Fort Benning was closed by the 50m Rifle Prone Men final, which was won by France's Valerian Sauveplane at the very last shot.
Valerian Sauveplane won the all-new ISSF 50m Rifle Prone Men final, securing the highest step of the podium at the last shot.
How does the new final work? The qualification scores are not carried forward into the final. And, during the final, after the eighth shot - and then after every two shots - an athlete is eliminated, until the medals are decided.
The 32-year old two-time Olympian started off the final in eighth place, climbing then the scoreboard up to the top, while his opponents were dropping out of the match.
On the last two shots, Sauveplane faced Germany's Daniel Brodmeier beating him at the last shot (a 10.3) to win the Gold medal with a final score of 206.5 points.
Brodmeier - who had won the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men event earlier this week and who set a new 50m Rifle Prone World Record of 628.8 points during the qualifications - finished in second, collecting the Silver medal with 206.3 points.
The Bronze went to Russia's Fedro Vlasov, 29, who gained his very first medal in this event with a final score of 185.6 points. Vlasov had already finished upon Fort Benning's podium on the 9th of May, when he had pocketed the 10m Air Rifle Men Bronze medal.
“I am feeling very good. Things went well, so I am really satisfied by the outcome of this match!” Sauveplane said after the competition.
“Starting off the match in eighth position, I was quite relaxed. But then, when I realized that I was actually climbing up the scoreboard, I became more and more nervous...” The champion from France explained.
“The last shot has been really difficult, because there were a few decimals between me and the German finalist. I shot a 10.3, and at the beginning I thought this was not going to be enough. But fortunately for me, that was good enough to win the match!”
Following the three medal winners, the 2012 Olympic Bronze medallist Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia, 50, placed in fourth, closing the final with 164.2 points. Behind him, in fifth place, Brazil's first-time finalist Cassio Cesar Rippel, 35, scored 143.4 points.
And today's want't the day of Henri Junghaenel, the 25-year old German shooter who had won both the 50m Rifle 3 Positions and the 50m Rifle Prone competitions at the previous ISSF World Cup Stage, in Changwon, last April. Today, after qualifying for the medal match in second with 626.9 points, he scored 122.7 points in the final, and was eliminated after the fifth series (after the 12th shot).
The home shooter Michal McPhail and the second-time finallist Stian Bogar of Norway finished in seventh and eighth place, with 102.6 and 80.9 points, respectively.