Italy’s experienced shooter Mauro De Filippis won the second international gold medal of his career at the ISSF World Cup Stage 2 in Changwon (KOR), where he nailed his first World Cup start since 2015.
De Filippis, who was standing in 6th place after three 5-target series, signed an amazing comeback, hitting 23 consecutive clays and climbing up the table position after position, eventually entering the final 10 targets 1-hit behind Jiri Liptak of the Czech Republic.
There, the 37-year-old Italian shooter put together another perfect streak, overtaking the Czech 36-year-old and winning the second World Cup gold of his career with 45 hits out of 50 targets, adding it to the one ho won eight years ago in Lonato (ITA).
“It hasn’t been easy at all,” said De Filippis after the medal ceremony. “My rivals, they were all great shooters, and we all had to face some tough weather conditions, both yesterday with the heavy rain, and today, when wind was affecting the targets a lot.”
“Now I’ll go back home with great motivation, focusing on the shooting range that I’m launching with my wife,” concluded De Filippis, whose wife — Italian Trap shooter Jessica Rossi — embraced him in a long and moving moment of joy right after the last target.
For Liptak, who concluded with 42 hits, it’s his third World Cup medal.
The bronze medal was awarded to Turkey’s 30-year-old Yavuz Ilnam, who finished with 34 target hits out of 40 and stepped on an ISSF World Cup podium once again after taking silver in Larnaka (CYP) three years ago.
Two more Turkish athletes placed just outside of the podium, as Oguzhan Tuzun and N Tolga Tuncer respectively took 4th and 5th place: Tuzun hit 29 clays out of 35, while Tuncer crushed 23 out of 30.
Great Britain’s 30-year-old Aaron Heading was the first contender eliminated from the match, as he missed four of his last ten targets and finished in 6th place with 20 hits out of 25 clays.
The ISSF World Cup Stage 2 in Changwon will continue tomorrow with three more finals: the 10m Air Pistol Women at 11:15 am (UTC+9:00), the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men at 1:15 pm, and the Trap Mixed Team at 4:30 pm.
The matches will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel and on its official Facebook page.
Live results, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.