Britain’s Seonaid McIntosh showed her class once again today as she produced a maximum 10.9 with her final shot to secure 10m air rifle mixed team gold in company with Dean Bale at the Cairo World Cup.
The British pair, pictured, could do little wrong at the start of the final, moving into a 14-6 lead over India’s Sonam Maskar and Arjun Babuta which left them needing to win just two more points for a winning round to reach the match point total of 16.
At this point, however, the Indian shooters – who had topped qualifying – set off on an epic run as they won the next four rounds to draw level at 14.14, with McIntosh lapsing from her normal standard with an effort of 9.8.
In series 15, however, the 27-year-old McIntosh, who won the 2018 world title in the 50m rifle prone and set a world record of 467.0 points in the 50m rifle 3 positions last May, followed a 10.1 from Bale with a 10.9, and the Indian pairing were finally beaten.
It was Britain’s first World Cup medal in this discipline.
Earlier the German pairing of Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich, winners at last year’s Rio de Janeiro World Cup, had defeated the Norwegian pair of Jeanette Hegg Duestad and Jon-Hermann Hegg 17-15 to earn the bronze medal.
The Norwegian pair had missed out on the gold medal match in the final stages of qualifying as Britain had moved past them into second place.
And they got the sinking feeling again in the 16th and final series of this match after arriving level on 15 points.
A 9.6 from Hegg put them in a vulnerable position, with Janssen scoring 10.6 with her effort. When Duestad scored 10.4 it meant Ulbrich only had to score 9.5 to win and he surpassed that easily with 10.4.
India were not to be denied a gold on the day, however, as they won the 10m air pistol mixed team title through their pairing of Rhythm Sangwan, who missed out on an individual medal by one place on the previous day, and Ujjawal Malik.
India were relatively easy 17-7 winners over the Armenia pairing of Elmira Karapetyan and Benik Khlghatyan.
Bronze went to the Kazakhstan team of 22-year-old Inna Yunusmetova, who had taken individual bronze the day before, and Valeriy Rakhimzhan, 16-8 winners over Chiara Giancamilli and Federico Maldini of Italy.
Both these events will feature in the Paris 2024 Olympics.