Andre Link of Germany and Gabriele Rossetti of Italy, both 19, became Junior World Champions for, respectively, the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions and Men's Skeet events, as they won the last two finals in their category today, the last competition day at the 51st ISSF World Championship in Granada, Spain.
Junior Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions
Germany's Andre Link claimed the Junior World Champion title after prevailing on silver medalist Alexis Raynaud of France by a really small margin, in the later stages of the Junior Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions final.
The 19-year-old European Champion took first with a slight 0.4-point lead on the French shooter, who was still leading when there were just three competition shots left. Link then shot a 10.5 to reach Raynaud in a tie (436.5), and eventually a 10.1 to overcome him—by 1.1 points. Raynaud got quite close to Link in the last round, as he shot a 10.2. But 0.4 points were still between them, and the German athlete went on to take first place.
456.1, Link's final score, was also a new Junior Final World Record for this event, as this World Championship marks the first time for junior finals to be staged.
Raynaud had already won a silver in Granada, in the Junior Men's 50m Rifle Prone event.
An 8.0 near the end of the standing series spoiled Gernot Rumpler's performance, as it left him out of the race to the gold and made him settle for third place. The 20-year-old of Austria had been in second place for good part of the match, keeping up a very strong record. He then fell quickly, as he shot first a 9.8 and then an 8.0; he closed on 443.9 points and won bronze.
Two-time Asian Shooting Championships medalist Zhao Zhonghao of China, 19, couldn't quite focus, as he went through two meager five-shot series in the prone and standing positions (49.7, 48.0), which meant that he had to leave the competition and take fifth place (422.8).
Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympics Silver Medalist Hrachik Babayan of Armenia, 18, scored less than 50 in almost half of his competition series, and therefore came in seventh place (402.0).
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Teams
France lost to Germany in the individual contest, but things went the other way round in the team competition--based on qualification scores.
Silver medalist Raynaud, Chassat, and Badouin added up to 3498 points, with 169 inner tens (or “x”s), giving France the gold.
Germany followed suit (3483 – 158x), thanks to bronze medalist Link, European Champion Dallinger, and Frueh.
Switzerland (3478 – 163x) claimed bronze.
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Junior Men's Skeet
Two-time European Championships medalist Gabriele Rossetti of Italy, 19, took the Junior World Champion title as he beat silver medalist Stefanos Nikolaidis of Cyprus, 19, in the gold medal match at the Junior Men's Skeet.
Rossetti had entered the contest after coming out on top of a duel against Haase of Germany, as the two of them were tied in second place in the semifinal. Rossetti eventually pulled it off successfully in the shoot-off (7-6) and in the gold medal match (15-13).
There were just two doubles left, went Rossetti finally overcame Nikolaidis. The Cypriot shooter missed hits twelfth target, while his Italian opponent hit his, and entered the final stage of the dispute with a small yet critical margin. Nikolaidis then missed his last target, making Rossetti's final lead grow to two hits.
In a very close dispute for the bronze, USA's Phillip Russell Jungman defeated Germany's Felix Haase in a shoot-off following a tie in the third-place playoff., which gave the third place.
The 19-year-old Texan Jungman took third as he caught up with Haase at the very last minute in the final, as Germany's European Championships silver medalist missed his last target and lost the lead, and the match closed on the score of 15-15.
It then took thirteen targets to decide the outcome of the further competition, as the duel dragged on until Jungman finally took advantage of Haase's miss at the seventh shot (7-6).
British shooter Lllewellin was seventh in the semifinal, whereas Rossetti's teammate Christian Benet came in last place, scoring 10 targets.
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Teams
Italy came away with the gold in the team competition too, as the qualification scores of gold medalist Rossetti, Benet, and Simeone added up to 357 hits.
Rossetti's performance was impressive (123), as he scored 25 hits four times in a row, in the first four rounds.
Silver medalist Jungman also shot well in the qualification stage, as he scored two 25s for the USA to win teams silver with 349 hits.
Lllewellin of Great Britain scored 120 hits, helping his country win bronze, just behind the USA, with 347 hits.
See the full results via web or PDF.