Women's skeet icon Kim Rhode led a clean sweep for the United States, the highlight of the second day of the ISSF World Cup in Lima, Peru.
The three-time Olympic champion Rhode won her 26th World Cup gold medal, putting her one behind Slovenian great Rajmond Debevec on the all-time table. Even more momentous for the veteran was doing it alongside her compatriots Samantha Simonton and Dania Vizzi.
The early stages saw early exits for Raiza Dhillon of India and Che Yufei of China in fifth and sixth, and an all-American podium was confirmed when China's Jiang Yiting tied with Vizzi in the elimination for fourth place, but exited due to a weaker seeding. Vizzi, who won her fifth World Cup gold in Buenos Aires last week, was unable to keep pace with Simonton and Rhode who had little separating them.
Simonton led by one going into the last 10 shots, but a miss on shot 51 while Rhode scored 10 from 10, meant a shoot-off was necessary, with both finishing on 56. The tiebreaker would not last long as Rhode scored her opening two, while Vizzi recorded a miss.
After the final, Rhode said: "It's incredible to be out there with so many talented women and to showcase the sport has been really fun. I'm very grateful.
"I don't think anybody would say it gets any better than having your teammates out there. We're always pushing each other and that bar is rising each and every year. I'm very honoured that we were able to sweep the podium, that's a rare thing!"
The three-time Olympic champion Rhode won her 26th World Cup gold medal, putting her one behind Slovenian great Rajmond Debevec on the all-time table. Even more momentous for the veteran was doing it alongside her compatriots Samantha Simonton and Dania Vizzi.
The early stages saw early exits for Raiza Dhillon of India and Che Yufei of China in fifth and sixth, and an all-American podium was confirmed when China's Jiang Yiting tied with Vizzi in the elimination for fourth place, but exited due to a weaker seeding. Vizzi, who won her fifth World Cup gold in Buenos Aires last week, was unable to keep pace with Simonton and Rhode who had little separating them.
Simonton led by one going into the last 10 shots, but a miss on shot 51 while Rhode scored 10 from 10, meant a shoot-off was necessary, with both finishing on 56. The tiebreaker would not last long as Rhode scored her opening two, while Vizzi recorded a miss.
After the final, Rhode said: "It's incredible to be out there with so many talented women and to showcase the sport has been really fun. I'm very grateful.
"I don't think anybody would say it gets any better than having your teammates out there. We're always pushing each other and that bar is rising each and every year. I'm very honoured that we were able to sweep the podium, that's a rare thing!"
Dustan Taylor and Christian Elliott finishes first and second in the men's skeetIn the men's skeet final, the United States claimed a one-two, with Dustan Taylor defeating Christian Elliott from the gold medal.
The pair came into the final amongst the favourites, along with Chinese pair Han Xu and Wu Liangliang, Italy's Erik Pittini and Hector Flores from Chile. Wu would be the first to depart, followed by Pittini in fifth, who was edged out by the Chilean. Despite a run of 14 straight hits, Flores was unable to make it into the medals as Elliott, Taylor and Han remained strong.
Han, whose best result before now was 20th in Baku last year, missed the silver against Elliott due to his seeding, settling for bronze. This meant once again, the top two would come from the US. Elliott, who won in Buenos Aires last week, would come undone on this occasion. He missed his 50th shot to give Taylor an advantage of one and with both missing once in the final stretch, Taylor had enough to stay ahead for the title - his first individual World Cup gold.
The two best teams at the last two pistol World Cups, faced off in the mixed team 10m air pistol final, with the winners being Suruchi Inder Singh and Saurabh Chaudhary of India, beating Yao Qianxun and Hu Kai of China 17-9.
Yao and Hu had a 9-7 lead, but India went on a fantastic run of five straight victories to overturn the result in their favour. China would win the bronze medal thanks to Ma Qianke and Zhang Yifan who defeated Manu Bhaker and Ravinder Singh of India 16-6.
You can find all results and information from the Lima ISSF World Cup here.
The pair came into the final amongst the favourites, along with Chinese pair Han Xu and Wu Liangliang, Italy's Erik Pittini and Hector Flores from Chile. Wu would be the first to depart, followed by Pittini in fifth, who was edged out by the Chilean. Despite a run of 14 straight hits, Flores was unable to make it into the medals as Elliott, Taylor and Han remained strong.
Han, whose best result before now was 20th in Baku last year, missed the silver against Elliott due to his seeding, settling for bronze. This meant once again, the top two would come from the US. Elliott, who won in Buenos Aires last week, would come undone on this occasion. He missed his 50th shot to give Taylor an advantage of one and with both missing once in the final stretch, Taylor had enough to stay ahead for the title - his first individual World Cup gold.
The two best teams at the last two pistol World Cups, faced off in the mixed team 10m air pistol final, with the winners being Suruchi Inder Singh and Saurabh Chaudhary of India, beating Yao Qianxun and Hu Kai of China 17-9.
Yao and Hu had a 9-7 lead, but India went on a fantastic run of five straight victories to overturn the result in their favour. China would win the bronze medal thanks to Ma Qianke and Zhang Yifan who defeated Manu Bhaker and Ravinder Singh of India 16-6.
You can find all results and information from the Lima ISSF World Cup here.