With a limited roster of competitors at the ISSF World Cup event in Baku the US has had few medal chances. Their first finalist didn’t happen until the second to last day of the competition when Amber English finally made it in skeet and shot her way to gold. English was third in qualifying with a 72 and advanced to the gold medal final with a 15 in the semifinal after hitting her last nine targets (the most of any of the six semifinalists). In the gold medal match English was a bit off to start hitting just four of her first six but hit her final ten to score a 14 that was more than enough to beat Italian Chiara Cainero’s 12. It was the second gold of the year by an American (Morgan Craft in Nicosia) and the third medal (Kimberly Rhode in Rio). The skeet is one of the best events for the US and the depth is why English won’t be in the Olympics as Rhode and Craft have the two spots from the US. Caitlin Connor was also strong with a 14th place finish with a 69. Her final round 22 was not enough to get her into a shoot-off at 71.

Things aren’t going as well in the men’s competition as all three American men seem to be out of of contention after the first three rounds. Phillip Jungman shot a 69, Mark Staffen a 65, and Hayden Stewart a 63. Jungman went 23-24-22 but sitting five points back of the top six would almost certainly miss the final even if he shot a 50 tomorrow. Staffen was hurt by 21’s in the first and third round while Stewart shot a final round 19. The men’s competition wraps up on Tuesday.

Previous ISSF World Cup Baku Coverage:
Preview
Thursday Update
Friday Update
Sunday Update