China’s world champion and world record holder Li Yuehong won 25m rapid fire pistol gold at the Munich World Cup after a compelling contest with home athlete Christian Reitz, whose qualifying world record of 593, set in 2013, had earlier been equalled by compatriot Florian Peter.
Peter, the 2023 World Cup Final champion, was unable to translate his qualifying brilliance into a medal at the last major event before the Paris 2024 Games, finishing fourth. No doubt plenty of useful information will have been filed in his ever-present notebook.
By contrast, Li – who set his world record of 39 in winning the world title in Bake last year - only reached the final via the sixth and last qualifying place, but his consistency in the final earned him the prize as his main rival Reitz, the Rio 2016 gold medallist, produced a performance of peaks and troughs.
After missing four of his first five efforts, which left him plumb last, the 37-year-old policeman arrested his downward trend and produced a sequence of five perfect fives, after which he led with 21, one more than France’s ISSF male Athlete of the Year Clement Bessaguet, and two ahead of the 34-year-old Chinese athlete.
But then the German’s form tipped down again and after three misses in his next series all three rivals were level on 23.
Reitz, who had earned European bronze a week earlier in Osijek, scored three on his next series to see off the challenge of Bessaguet, who missed on three of his efforts and added a bronze medal to his growing collection.
But Li, with just one miss, had set himself up in a two-point lead and he concluded with a perfect five that gave him a total of 32 as his German opponent managed only two more hits for a final score of 28.
For Li it was a second successive World Cup gold after his success in Baku last month.
Peter finished one place ahead of Matej Rampula of the Czech Republic, with China’s Wang Xinjie taking sixth place.
“It was exciting,” Li told ISSF TV in fluent English. “It was a very difficult competition, because it was so near to the Olympic Games. So for me it was very hard.
“At the beginning of the final it was not good for me as I missed two, and so I needed to change some things in order to shoot better. So I had to think hard about what to do.”
Asked what this victory has done for his confidence heading towards the Paris 2024 Games, Li responded: “The confidence is not much more, because everyone is very strong. I was the last to get to the final, I was sixth (in qualifying). So it was very hard. And so I just want to do my job well at the Olympics.”
Reitz commented: “Second place in the World Cup in Munich is a perfect ending for me. The first series was horrible for me, because you want to do something with a technique and the first series was ‘OK, that’s not what I want to do.’
“Then the next four series were really great – but the rest, then, goes a little bit lower and the pressure was really harder. And after Li hit the final five shots – OK. I’m finished!
“But it is a good feeling because last year I had not such good competitions and now we have changed a little bit and this could be the right way, and so it’s good for me that I have a good feeling for the shooting.”
After winning another World Cup medal following his silver and bronze successes in the two Baku finals last month, Bessaguet commented: “As always when it is not a gold medal I am not happy.
“I know that the level is really high. It’s crazy. 587 to reach the final. So we have only the really good athletes and we know we have to do a lot of fives, or maybe fours. But I did maybe two threes, so it was not good.”
He added with a grin: “It’s OK if I finish three now and I win the Olympic Games!”
China’s world champion and world record holder Li Yuehong won 25m rapid fire pistol gold at the Munich World Cup after a compelling contest with home athlete Christian Reitz, whose qualifying world record of 593, set in 2013, had earlier been equalled by compatriot Florian Peter.
Peter, the 2023 World Cup Final champion, was unable to translate his qualifying brilliance into a medal at the last major event before the Paris 2024 Games, finishing fourth. No doubt plenty of useful information will have been filed in his ever-present notebook.
By contrast, Li – who set his world record of 39 in winning the world title in Bake last year - only reached the final via the sixth and last qualifying place, but his consistency in the final earned him the prize as his main rival Reitz, the Rio 2016 gold medallist, produced a performance of peaks and troughs.
After missing four of his first five efforts, which left him plumb last, the 37-year-old policeman arrested his downward trend and produced a sequence of five perfect fives, after which he led with 21, one more than France’s ISSF male Athlete of the Year Clement Bessaguet, and two ahead of the 34-year-old Chinese athlete.
But then the German’s form tipped down again and after three misses in his next series all three rivals were level on 23.
Reitz, who had earned European bronze a week earlier in Osijek, scored three on his next series to see off the challenge of Bessaguet, who missed on three of his efforts and added a bronze medal to his growing collection.
But Li, with just one miss, had set himself up in a two-point lead and he concluded with a perfect five that gave him a total of 32 as his German opponent managed only two more hits for a final score of 28.
For Li it was a second successive World Cup gold after his success in Baku last month.
Peter finished one place ahead of Matej Rampula of the Czech Republic, with China’s Wang Xinjie taking sixth place.
“It was exciting,” Li told ISSF TV in fluent English. “It was a very difficult competition, because it was so near to the Olympic Games. So for me it was very hard.
“At the beginning of the final it was not good for me as I missed two, and so I needed to change some things in order to shoot better. So I had to think hard about what to do.”
Asked what this victory has done for his confidence heading towards the Paris 2024 Games, Li responded: “The confidence is not much more, because everyone is very strong. I was the last to get to the final, I was sixth (in qualifying). So it was very hard. And so I just want to do my job well at the Olympics.”
Reitz commented: “Second place in the World Cup in Munich is a perfect ending for me. The first series was horrible for me, because you want to do something with a technique and the first series was ‘OK, that’s not what I want to do.’
“Then the next four series were really great – but the rest, then, goes a little bit lower and the pressure was really harder. And after Li hit the final five shots – OK. I’m finished!
“But it is a good feeling because last year I had not such good competitions and now we have changed a little bit and this could be the right way, and so it’s good for me that I have a good feeling for the shooting.”
After winning another World Cup medal following his silver and bronze successes in the two Baku finals last month, Bessaguet commented: “As always when it is not a gold medal I am not happy.
“I know that the level is really high. It’s crazy. 587 to reach the final. So we have only the really good athletes and we know we have to do a lot of fives, or maybe fours. But I did maybe two threes, so it was not good.”
He added with a grin: “It’s OK if I finish three now and I win the Olympic Games!”