Starting from zero, the 25-year old German champion built up his victory by shooting a fantastic final.
Henri Junghaenel of Germany secured Gold at the 50m Rifle Prone Men event at the 2013 ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea, the first World Cup Stage of the year in the 10 rifle and pistol Olympic events.
The 1988’s shooter finished on the highest step of the podium with 209.6 points, outdoing USA’s Michael McPhail in the new ISSF final. With the new ISSF rules in place, the qualification score is not carried forward into the final. There, the match starts from zero.
The new final match starts off with two series of three shots. Then, the final proceed with single shots. Starting from the eighth shot, and then after every two shots, the athlete with the lowest score is eliminated, until the medals are decided. The Final match ends up with two shooters on the line, duelling for the Gold on the last two shots.
In the final, Junghaenel scored 209.6 points out of 20 shots, with a great average higher than 10.4 points per shot. Shooting a 10.7 and a 10.3 in the last series, he outscored USA’s McPhail (31) who shot a 10.7 and a 9.8, finishing in second with 207.4 points.
“I don’t know where that 9.8 came from!” McPhail said, right after the match.
“I did not expect such a great result, at the first World Cup of the year” Junghaenel said.
Junghaenel had won his first ISSF Gold at the 2011 ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning.
“I will definitely compete in the next ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, USA. I leave in the US, and I won’t miss that match!” He said.
The 25-year old German shooter is indeed attending the Kentucky University, where he’s studying mechanical engineering.
Today’s Bronze went to the 2012 Olympic Silver medallist, Lionel Cox of Belgium, 31, who scored 186.4 points during the final.
He was followed by Russia’s Fedor Vlasov with 165.0 points, while the experienced Swiss finalist Marcel Buerge placed in fifth with 144.3 points.
Oman’s first time finalist, Hamed Said Alkhatri took the sixth place with 122.0 points, followed by the second Russian finalist, Alexandre Sokolov, in seventh with 101.1 points. Vuyeacheslav Skoromnov, representing Qatar, placed eighth with 80.9 points.