It took probably more than anyone would expect, but in the end Greece’s Anna Korakaki won her first career World Cup Gold in Munich (GER).
The 21-year-old born in Drama, who closed an outstanding 2016 with two Olympic medals around her neck, as well as an ISSF World Cup Final title and two Junior World Cup medals, had not climbed to the highest step of the ISSF World Cup podium until today.
At the Olympia Schießanlage in Munich, however, Korakaki finally broke the spell, battling with Lin Yuemei of the People’s Republic of China all along the first half of the match, eventually sailing away for good with a consistent performance in the second part of the final.
After falling behind her Greek rival, Lin also slipped down to 3rd position, as she missed the 10th ring with all her last six shots and allowed Ukraine’s Olena Kostevych (32) to claim the Silver medal with 238.3 points. The Chinese 23-year-old scored 217.5 points and secured her second consecutive medal after winning Gold at the first World Cup stage of the season in New Delhi (IND).
Spain’s 38-year-old Sonia Franquet finished just outside of the medal positions with 198.5 points, as she lost a tie-breaking shoot-off against Kostevych by hitting a very disappointing 7.3 that gave her the 4th place.
Franquet was followed by Russian Federation’s Vitalina Batsarashkina (20), who concluded in 5th place with 177.8, and by the second Chinese participant, 38-year-old Hu Jun. Hu finished 6th with 157.0 points and qualified for the final phase of the women’s 10m Air Pistol event eight years after her last one.
France’s Celine Goberville (30) and Switzerland’s Heidi Diethelm Gerber (48) both struggled to find the right focus in the final, and concluded the match in the bottom two positions: Goberville placed 7th with 135.4 points, while Diethelm Gerber finished in 8th place with 114.4.
Men's 50M Rifle 3-positions
The tenth and last match of the ISSF World Cup Stage 4 in Munich (GER) saw France’s Alexis Raynaud claim the first international Gold medal of his young career in the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event, which he ruled from the very beginning.
At the end of both the kneeling and prone positions, in fact, Raynaud was ahead of all the other finalists, while in the third and conclusive section he successfully defended his lead from the comeback of Russian Federation’s Sergey Kamenskiy, securing the first international Gold medal of his career with the final score of 463.5 points.
Despite hitting a poor 8.8 with his last shot, Kamenskiy walked away from the firing line with a great smile on his face, congratulating Raynaud and pocketing his second World Cup medal in Munich after the Gold won four days ago in the 10m Air Rifle Men event.
Previously today, the Russian 29-year-old equalled the Qualification World Record with 1186 points. It’s Kamenskiy second record in Munich after the one he set in the 10m Air Rifle Men final on Friday.
Alongside the French and the Russian shooter, People’s Republic of China’s Liu Yukun (20) completed the podium in 3rd place, securing the Bronze with 446.9 points. It’s Liu’s third international medal out of three total participations, as he previously won a Gold in the men’s 10m Air Rifle at last year’s Asian Championship in Tehran (IRI) and a Silver in the men’s 50m Rifle Prone at this year’s World Cup stage in New Delhi (IND).
Liu was followed by Serbia’s 44-year-old Stevan Pletikosic and by Ukraine’s 24-year-old Serhiy Kulish, who respectively finished 4th with 435.8 points and 5th with 425.1.
Despite struggling in the kneeling phase, 17-year-old Filip Nepejchal of the Czech Republic climbed up a couple of positions midway through the final, concluding in 6th place with 415.0 points after losing a shoot-off against Kulish.
Germany’s Maximilian Dallinger and Poland’s Tomasz Bartnik left the match together after the 40th shot. Dallinger (20), competing in his first World Cup, finished in 7th place with 403.3 points, while Bartnik, who entered the top-8 of a World Cup event for the first time in his career, concluded 8th with 401.8.
Korea finish atop on Medal standings
The Republic of Korea finished atop of the overall medals standings, with two Golds and 1 Bronze medal. France followed in second with 2 Gold medals, while the Russian Federation, with 1 Gold and 2 Silver, closed the stage in third place.
Two new World Records were set during the event: four-time Olympic champion Jin Jongoh scored 230.5 points in the men’s 50m Pistol final, and Russia’s Sergey Kamenskiy set a new 10m Air Rifle Men World Record of 250.9 points. The same Kamenskiy equalled the Qualification World Record in today’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men event, scoring 1186 points.
Munich was also the stage of three Junior World Records: the first one set by Pavlo Korostylov in the 10m Air Pistol Men on May 22nd, while Filip Nepejchal of the Czech Republic set a new Junior Qualification World Record by scoring 1185 points in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men event. Anastasiia Galashina of the Russian Federation, finally, established the new Junior Qualification World Record in the 10m Air Rifle Women with 420.6 points.
The 2017 ISSF World Cup Series will now move on to its fifth and last stage, to be held in Gabala (AZE) from June 6th to June 14th.