The second Gold medal of today’s schedule finished around the neck of France’s Nicolas Tranchant, a soon-to-be 16-year-old who never pocketed his first international medal at the ISSF Running Target World Championship in Suhl.
The young French athlete qualified for the semifinals as the third best shooter, prevailing over Russian Federation’s Iaroslav Klepikov in the semifinal. The following Gold medal match saw Tranchant take the lead twice in the early phases, then scoring three consecutive points that led him to the Gold medal with the final score of 6 points to 2.
As Tranchant fired the winning shot, all of his teammates started singing the French anthem and of course Tranchant joined them. “We’re going through some difficult times as a country, so it’s always nice to stay together,” he said. “This is the most important competition for Running Target shooters, so for me it’s amazing to win this medal. I’m very happy!”
In the Bronze medal match Ihor Kizyma, who finished the qualification with the best score, 566 points, faced Klepikov, prevailing at the end of a balanced match with the score of 7 points to 5. The Bronze he secured in the 10m Running Target Men Junior event id the third individual medal for Kizyma in this World Championship, after the two Golds he earned in the 50m Running Target Men Junior and in the 50m Running Target Mixed Men Junior.
On the team podium the Ukraine pocketed the Gold medals with Kizyma, Maksym Babushok and Dmytro Melnyk, who scored 1666 total points. In 2nd place finished the Russian Federation’s Klepikov, Valerii Davydov and Samir Khagi, followed by Germany’s Kris Grossheim, Torsten Fass and Felix Hoerning, winners of the Bronze medals.
The ISSF Running Target World Championship will continue tomorrow with the 10m Running Target Mixed Men event and the 10m Running Target Mixed Men Junior.
News and updates about the ISSF Running Target World Championship will be available on the ISSF website and on the Federation’s social media profiles: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Weibo.