Day one of competition in Ft. Benning saw early favorites emerge in the second group of events to be contested. In the men’s rapid fire pistol where there are only three competitors, lowest of any event, 2012 Olympian Emil Milev used a strong 585 in qualifying to open up a 6 point lead on Alexander Chichkov. Milev furthered his lead by winning the final and now leads by 8 with 591 points. Chichkov is a 21-year old former Junior World Champion and even if this is not his year you would expect him to be a favorite to make the Olympics in the future. He is two points ahead of third place Brad Balsley.

In the women’s sport pistol event Enkelejda Shehaj, an Olympian for Albania in 1992 and 1996, has the early lead after posting a 582 in qualifying and coming in second in the final. She had the only 100 of the day in the event and sits at 589 points. 2008 Olympian Brenda Silva won the final to pull within just five points. It’s another former Olympian in third, Sandra Uptagrafft who was the US competitor in this event in 2012, trailing Silva by eight points.

There is also a contest for the 50m three position rifle event though the US is not sure if they will have a spot for the winner. Dempster Christenson, who was second in the prone rifle after day one, is your first day leader having the top qualifying score by a full ten points and coming in third in the final to sit at 1179. George Norton won the final to cut the deficit to eight points between first and second while Lucas Kozeniesky is in third with 1166.

Shooting continues on Thursday with qualifying rounds at 9 AM ET and finals at 3 PM ET.