No doubt that the best competition of the entire US Olympic Shooting Trials in Ft. Benning, Georgia over the last week was the one for the women’s sport pistol that wrapped up today. Going into the final day of the trials Enkelejda Shehaj held a six point lead over Brenda Silva with Sandra Uptagrafft having rallied on day two to pull within seven. It would be Uptagrafft rolling strong in the qualification round again on Friday shooting a competition high 583 to take the lead going into the final. Shehaj was one point back with Silva within three of Uptagrafft and all three having a shot at the Olympic spot depending how the final went.
According to the USA Shooting website what ensued was a dramatic final that eventually came down to the final shot of the title match. Shehaj bested her opponent to win the final and give herself the extra point she needed to retake the lead from Uptagrafft and claim the Olympic spot. Shehaj, who was an Olympian for Albania in 1992 and 1996, will be hoping to capture magic in Rio 20 years after her last Olympic games. Silva finished four points behind Uptagrafft in third.
The men’s rapid fire pistol event was much less dramatic as 2012 Olympian Emil Milev went in leading by 17 and added to it winning the competition by a whopping 27 points over Brad Balsley. Third place went to Alexander Chichkov who finished just a point behind Balsley.
Finally in the contest for the 50m three position rifle event, where the US may or may not have a spot for the winner. Dempster Christenson once again struggled to hold near the top and finished twelve points behind his day two co-leader George Norton in the qualification round. That meant the competition was effectively over before the final and despite Christenson winning the final he finished in second, ten points behind Norton. Ryan Anderson surged to third as he posted the top qualification round of the day at 1175 but finished 26 points behind the winner.
This isn’t the end of the US Olympic Shooting Trials, just this event. The next shooting trials are in Tillar, Arkansas from May 16th to May 25th when the four spots in the shotgun events will be determined.
