Published on 03 Oct 2024

Berg leads Norwegian one-two in Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Final at ISSF Junior World Championships

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Final shot drama gives Synnoeve Berg gold in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions final due to mistake from Caroline Finnestad Lund.

In a back-and-forth contest, Synnoeve Berg won the gold medal in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions final, with a dramatic final shot, defeating her teammate Caroline Finnestad Lund to lead a Norwegian one-two.

The pair had a healthy lead after kneeling and prone sections before going into an unbelievable showdown.

Despite their dominance in the final, Norway would narrowly missed the team gold medal, won by Czechia with a new qualification junior world record.

 

Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Final

 

Berg and Lund were joined in the final by their compatriot Pernille Nor-Woll. The top qualifier - with a score of 593 from 600 - was Poland's Maja Magdalena Gawenda, while Hannah Wehren from Germany hoped for a good final after qualifying third.

The United States' Emme Walrath, Khushi from India and Anna Schiavon from Italy were the final qualifiers.

 

Berg and Lund set the standard with kneeling scores of 157.1, with Nor-Woll their closest challenger on 154.5.

Lund would then take a lead of more than two points with a score of 313.4 to Berg's 311.2 and Nor-Woll's 310.0. The nearest threat to a Norwegian whitewash was Khushi with a total of 307.9.

 

The first elimination saw Schiavon a poor round of shots to finish seventh, just ahead of Wehren in eighth.

Berg retook the lead heading into the single shot rounds, 411.9 to 411.4, while Nor-Woll struggled to keep contact, falling shortly behind Khushi into fourth.

Gawenda inevitably was eliminated in the first single shot, then Nor-Woll narrowly fell into fifth as Khushi and Walrath moved ahead with better scores.

Walrath could not outscore Khushi and would finish fourth. The Indian was unable to get close to the two Norwegians, who were having a close encounter for the gold.

 

As quickly as Berg had the lead, she lost it after the first single shot. After that first shot, there was a one-point lead for Lund, who continued to outscore Berg in every round of the standing elimination, including a score of 10.2 to Berg's 8.7 heading into the final shot.

 

Somehow, the impossible happened. Lund's shot was awry, scoring just 7.0. Berg's final shot was by far her best of the single shots - a 10.0. It meant Berg's total was 458.4 and Lund's was 458.3. It was a shocking end to a final between two great rivals.

 

 

Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team 

 

In the separate qualification event to determine the team gold medal, Czechia's Katerina Mikulcikova, Barbora Dubska and Veronika Blazickova set a new qualification junior world record with a combined total of 1763. Blazickova was the highest of their scorers with a total of 589, but the key to their victory was consistency - only three shots separated her from the team's lowest scorer, Dubska.

Nor-Woll, Berg and Lund were just one shot short of the gold medal supported by a high score from Lund, with Switzerland another shot behind with a total of 1761 for the bronze, helped by the high score of 593 from Ekaterina Chenikova. Chenikova's trio consisted of sisters Vivien and Emely Jaeggi too.