ISSF

Published on 14 Apr 2009

25m Rapid Fire Pistol – World Record holders face to face

issf-logo
MDD

Russia’s Klimov and Germany’s Reitz, two world record holders, duelled for gold in the last Rapid Fire Pistol relay. Kilmov shot the brightest medal, while Olympic Bronze Reitz dropped in fourth. Sanderson of the USA won Silver, while bronze was taken by the first time participant Zhang of China.

World Record holder Alexei KLIMOV of Russia won today’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol men event at the ISSF world cup in Changwon, Korea. The 33-year old Russian athlete won the final round with a total score of 790.2 points (590+200.2), starting the new season in the lead as he had finished the previous one by winning the 2008 World Cup Final in Bangkok.

Klimov won gold by defeating in the third and last relay Beijing’s Bronze medallist Christian REITZ, renewing a duel lasting since last year’s World Cup in Milan, when Reitz had tied Klimov’s 591-point record, and then set a new Final World Record of 794.0 points.
Today, the expert Russian shooter entered the final round in the lead with one point of head start, and did not live many chances to Reitz. The 21-year old German shooter did not fire his best final, landing in fourth place with a score of 784.4 points (589+195.4).

Silver went to USA’s Keith SANDERSON, who climbed from the third place to finish on the second step of the podium with a score of 787.3 points (589+198.3). “good to be on the podium, but I am not very happy with the today’s score. I haven’t been training that much after the Olympics. – Said the American shooter, who had placed in fifth at the Olympic final of Beijing, last year - I have been teaching shooting in Hawaii, but will train more, from now on.”

Bronze went to the 23-year old Chinese shooter Jian ZHANG, 23, who scored 785.7 points (588+197.7). He had never taken part in an ISSF international or continental competition before, and his prime performance highlighted once more the success of the Chinese team at this first ISSF world cup stage.

Korea’s KANG Min Su finished in fifth place, scoring 781.9 points (585+196.9), while the Russian pistol master Leonid EKIMOV finished in last after missing one of the targets in his first series.
Ekimov, who had won Gold and Silver in the 10m Air Pistol and 50m Pistol men events in the last days, could not recover from that mistake, and missed the chance to step on his third consecutive podium, landing in sixth place with 768.8 points (585+183.8).