The Republic of Korea’s Lim Hojin, 23, earned his first individual ISSF World Cup title in Cairo after edging past the 40-year-old long-time leader Samuil Donkov of Bulgaria with his penultimate shot.
Earlier, Greece’s Rio 2016 gold and bronze medallist Anna Korakaki earned her seventh individual World Cup gold as she took the women’s 10m air pistol title by 0.2 points from India’s Devi Anuradha, making her international debut at the age of 33.
Donkov, a carpenter by trade, was making only his second World Cup final appearance in a career stretching back more than 20 years.
In what was the first of six World Cups scheduled in this Olympic year, he came agonisingly close to making it a golden experience as he went into the final round of two shots leading by 0.2 points despite scoring an 8.7 with his fourth-from-last effort.
His penultimate effort of 9.0 opened the door to his young rival, who had topped the morning’s qualifying with 586 points, and a score of 9.6 was enough to take Lim – who won the 2023 Asian title in Jakarta - into the lead for the first time.
The Korean led by 0.4 points with each to take their 24th and final shot. Donkov, who had stretched his lead to 3.2 after the second elimination round and recovered from a serious dip two rounds later, rallied again to score 10.7.
But Lim in turn kept his nerve to score 10.5 and take his prize by 241.9 points to 241.7.
“It’s very wonderful. I am maybe now in my dreams…” he told ISSF TV.
Asked how he had managed to keep his composure in what was such a tense competition, he added: “I kept saying to myself: ‘It’s OK. Calm down. Calm down.’”
Donkov, seventh in qualifying, reflected: “It was really hard dealing with the pressure. It was my second final in the World Cup. I have been competing for 20 years – I started again 14 years ago after taking a five-year break.”
The Bulgarian, a Rio 2016 Olympian in this event and the 50m pistol,, also reached the podium in his other World Cup final, taking bronze at Changwon in 2018.
A year later he was European champion in the 50m pistol event.
“At the beginning I thought to myself ‘I belong’, and I started very strongly,” he added.
“But the pressure made me do two bad shots – and that was my medal…
“Second place is good though, in fact it’s great!”
Bronze went to 28-year-old Lauris Strautmanis of Latvia, bronze medallist at last year’s World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.
The Latvian recovered after an uncertain start to earn bronze ahead of Lim’s compatriot Lee Wonho – second in qualifying on 584 by half a point.
“For me it’s easier to be down and then to climb back up!” he said.
Fifth place went to Italy’s 25-year-old Paolo Monna, silver medallist at the World Cup Final in Doha, with India’s 21-year-old Sagar Dangi, who had happy memories of the shooting range at the Egypt International Olympic City having won team gold at the World Junior Championships held there in 2022, taking sixth place.
Ukraine’s Oleh Omelchuk was seventh and Nickolaus Mowrer of the United States finished eighth.
Two notable names who failed to emerge from the 60 who entered qualifying were Monna’s compatriot Federico Maldini, winner of the men’s 25m rapid fire title at last year’s ISSF World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, and India’s Varun Tomar, who won the Asian title in Jakarta earlier this year.
Korakaki, 28, who won 25m pistol gold and 10m air pistol bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics and added world gold in the latter event two years later, dominated the final at the shooting range of the Egypt International Olympic City after taking the lead in the second round of five shots.
There was a final wobble, however, as she scored 8.4 with her last shot, with her opponent, who only took up the sport in 2019 and had secured the last qualifying place earlier in the day, rallying with a final effort of 10.8.
Korakaki looked a little discomposed, but although her winning margin had narrowed from 3.6 points it still sufficed for victory.
Asked about her final shot, Korakaki told ISSF TV: “It was really random because I was shooting well and I was really stable, but it was a little movement in my hip that did it.
“It wasn’t nerves. I was relaxed because I knew I had a good points difference. It was just one of those things – a bit like a hiccup! But today I had 23 shots that were good so I am satisfied.”
But Korakaki admitted she had been concerned by her performance in qualifying, where she had finished fourth.
“I was really disappointed this morning, but we will work on it – because this is Olympic year!”
Anuradha told ISSF TV she was “really overwhelmed” by her performance.
“This is my first international event, my first World Cup final and my first medal.
“I only started shooting in 2019 and then it was very difficult because of COVID and the lockdowns. But I kept going, and today all my efforts have paid off.”
India, with a 49-strong team in the Egyptian capital, had certainly been hoping for a medal but most of their supporters would have imagined it would be provided by 20-year-old Rhythm Sangwan, world junior champion in the 25m pistol in 2021, who earned a Paris 2024 quota place earlier this month in finishing third at the Asian Championships in Jakarta.
Sangwan had topped qualifying with 584, finishing four points clear of Austria’s Sylvia Steiner, but she was beaten to bronze on this occasion by 22-year-old Inna Yunusmetova of Ukraine, who thus claimed her first individual World Cup medal.
Korakaki’s 21-year-old fellow Greek shooter Christina Moschi was fifth, one place ahead of the Hungarian who, until earlier this month, was joint world record holder in the women’s 25m pistol thanks to her score of 41 in 2019, Veronika Major.
Sylvia Steiner of Austria was seventh, with Mexico’s 20-year-old Andrea Ibarra Miranda, the third shooter making a debut in a World Cup final, finishing eighth.
Doreen Vennekamp of Germany, world champion and former co-world record holder in the 25m pistol, failed to reach the final after finishing 29th of the 52 who had entered qualifying.
It was something of an anticlimax after the previous evening’s event in which she received her award as the ISSF women’s Athlete of the Year – but also an indication of the hugely high standard of entrants to this first World Cup of 2024.
Vennekamp will doubtless be looking forward now to her signature event…