It keeps on raining in San Marino, where the men’s Double Trap Final of the 3rd ISSF Shotgun World Cup stage of the season was conducted today.
The two-time World Champion Joshua Richmond of the United States of America (30) secured the brightest medal at the end of a thrilling Gold medal match, where he met and beat Germany’s top-ranked Double Trap shooter Andreas Loew (34) by 29 to 28 hits.
Richmond had scored 28 targets in the semi-final, beating China’s Pan Qiang in a shoot-off to join Loew in Gold medal match. The German athlete had shot a perfect semi-final, hitting 30 out of 30 targets, to qualify.
“It was another great day in San Marino for me, I shot here in 2009 and got a Bronze medal. I came here trying to stay consistent throughout the day. The weather conditions affected the targets, and the light was changing back and forth, but I staid focused, hitting one target after the other until the end,” said Richmond.
“When I got to the last pair I knew I had a small cushion, I tried to enjoy the moment and I knew I was going to hit one of the two… it was still a win!” Added the US shooter, who missed just one target in the medal match, on his last pair.
“I recently qualified for Rio 2016 throughout our selection process in the US. I will be going to the next ISSF World Cup in Baku, and then I will return back home to train with the rest of the team. The focus is now on August 10th, when we will compete in Rio.”
“I feel much more confident going into Rio: I know what to expect, and I am really excited for it. I shot well on that range in the past,” continued Richmond, who had won the 2007 Pan American Games held in Rio, on the same layout that will be used during the Olympics. “I think I will be a contender.”
The 2015 ISSF World Cup Final silver medalist Pan Qiang of the People’s Republic of China, 31, claimed today’s Bronze, beating 29 to 28 hits the winner of the last world cup stage in Rio de Janeiro, Australia’s James Willett, 20, who finished in fourth. Willet, currently ranked first in the world in this event, had finished on the podium also at the beginning of the season in Nicosia.
The winner of the first shotgun world cup stage of the season in Nicosia, Italy’s Alessandro Chianese, finished in 5th place after the semi-final. At his seventh double, the Italian shooter had a technical issue with his shotgun. He tried to fix it, but after the third malfunction in a row he was given a two-hit deduction according to the ISSF Rules. From there on, Chianese shot the rest of the match with the shotgun of his teammate Marco Innocenti, a gun with a totally different setup (competition shotguns are highly customized). The 26-year old athlete was still able to hit 14 out of remaining 16 targets, closing the match with 25 hits, an exceptional score given the situation.
Finland’s first-time finalist Sami Ritsila, 43, took the 6th place with 24 hits in the semi-final.
After three out of five events conducted, USA leads the medal standings with 1 Gold and 1 Silver medals, while Australia and the Czech Republic follow in join second place with 1 Gold medal each.
The ISSF Shotgun World Cup in San Marino will continue tomorrow and the day after tomorrow with the Skeet’s official and pre-event trainings. The next medal match, the women’s Skeet Final, will take place on June 9, at 6.45 PM. The men’s Skeet Final will close the competition on June 10, at 5.30 PM.
Follow the next updates on www.issf-sports.org
DOUBLE TRAP GOLD for @JoshuaRichmond4 at the @ISSF_Shooting World Cup in San Marino. Nice Work for the Rio-bound Richmond.
— USA Shooting (@USAShooting) June 6, 2016