The Russian Federation, France and the United States of America took over the three junior finals which were held today at the ISSF World Championship in Granada, Spain: respectively, Men’s 10m Air Rifle, Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, and Women’s Skeet.
JUNIOR MEN'S 10M AIR RIFLE
European Championships silver medalist Vladimir Maslennikov of Russia won gold at the Men’s 10m Air Rifle event as he beat 2014 Youth Olympics silver medalist Hrachick Babayan. He scored 206.8 points and held on to a 1.1-point lead upon his opponent, who closed on 205.7.
Babayan had some great rounds; in the end, though, Maslennikov’s consistency paid off. The Armenian shooter started the match brilliantly with a 10.8, and eventually even hit a 10.9. But Maslennikov, despite “only” reaching a 10.7, scored at least 10.5 seven times. His teammate Evgeny Panchenko gained his first-ever medal as he came in third place (185.3).
France’s Lorenzo Buffard, a bronze medalist at the 2014 European Championships in Moscow, was only seventh (100.1). Four out of his ten shots were under 10.
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Team (Based on qualification scores)
Buffard’s qualification score (624.1), though, helped France win gold in the team competition. Fellow countrymen Raynaud (622.9) and Baudouin (622.6) also contributed to the success. The final score, 1869.6, was also a new Junior World Record.
The People's Republic of China came in second (1867.2), as Wang, Wu and Zhao had respectively scores of 623.7, 623.2, and 620.3.
Other than two individual podium places, the Russian Federation secured a bronze in the team competition too, as Ishchenko (620.9) worked with medalists Maslennikov (622.8) and Panchenko (623.0) to add up to a total of 1866.7.
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JUNIOR MEN'S 25M RAPID FIRE PISTOL
20-year-old of France Jean Quiquampoix, Junior European Champion in 2012, set a new Final Junior World Record, 28 hits, to win the Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event. He had the best of silver medalist Russia's Aleksandr Marchev (25 hits) and bronze medalist Korea's Park Jungwoo (21).
Quiquampoix had a great start, scoring two near-perfect 4-hit rounds in the first three series; he then reached perfection as he scored 5 hits in the fifth round, making his way to the gold.
Silver medalist, 20-year-old of Russia Marchev came out on top of a shoot-off against Park, who took bronze. The two of them closely dueled to break a 21-21 tie after 35 shots.
Despite representing one third of the finalists, China didn't take any medal, as Wang Xinyu and Zhang Tianshuai came in the last two places at the bottom of the scoreboard.
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Team (Based on qualification scores)
China did much better in the team standings, as it won gold to set a new Junior World Record (1719 - 36x). Zhang (578 – 17x), Wang (573 – 11x), and Cao Heyuan (568 – 08x) were the ones to step up to the highest step of the podium.
The Republic of Korea claimed silver (1701 – 40x), thanks to bronze medalist Park's 570 – 11x, Kim Seijun's 568 – 13x, and Lee Kyungwon's 563 – 16x.
Russia won bronze. Other than Marchev's 571 – 18x, Chudotvorov's 557 – 14x and Perelygin's 556 - 11x were key to the medal.
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JUNIOR WOMEN'S SKEET
USA's Dania Jo Vizzi, silver medalist at last year's World Championship in Lima, won the Junior Women's Skeet event as she beat Germany's Katrin Wieslhuber in a very close gold medal match (13-12).
Vizzi pulled ahead of Wieslhuber when there were just four shots left in the contest. She broke the 10-10 tie as the 19-year-old of Germany missed her thirteenth target.
Wieslhuber didn't take advantage of Vizzi's miss in her second-last target, as she missed hers as well. That would have put Wieslhuber in a joint first position with Vizzi, and possibly in a shoot-off.
In a terrible last round, Ukraine's Koira lost her lead in the third-place playoff and handed the bronze over to Barbora Sumova of the Czech Republic, who had entered the match after a shoot-off. Koira, who was leading by 10-9 after 12 shots, missed three of her last four targets, while Sumova went through two perfect doubles and won with a score of 13 hits.
Sumova had made it to the bronze medal match after winning a shoot-off, by 6-5, against USA's Sydney Carson. The two of them had closed the semifinal in joint fourth position, with 11 hits.
See the full results via web or PDF.
Team (Based on qualification scores)
The USA also won gold in the team competition, as it set a new Junior World Record (204 hits) thanks to Vizzi (72), Carson (67), and Hannah Nicole Houston (65).
Czech Republic came in second, as gold medalist Sumova (68), Peskova (63) and Mancikova (62) added up to 193 hits.
The People's Republic of China claimed bronze (188 hits) with Yu Tianyuan (69), Che Yufei (65), and Liu Huan (54).