The most dramatic event on Saturday at the Air Shooting Olympic Trials might be one where an Olympic spot is all but locked in. Lucas Kozeniesky has seemingly locked up one of the two spots available in the men’s rifle competition as he had the top qualifying score of 626.5 and finished second in the final to open up a 9.6 point lead over second place and a seemingly insurmountable 18 point lead over third place. I say seemingly because the events of Saturday’s competition show you almost anything is possible. Daniel Lowe had held the second qualifying spot after day one but was way off the pace in qualifying and missed out on the final by 2.2 points. Ivan Roe took advantage with a solid qualifying score and a fourth place finish (nothing spectacular) and went from 0.3 behind Lowe to a big 8.9 point lead. Matthew Rawlings moved into third but after finishing last in the final he is well behind Roe and would need a big final day to get into second. Dempster Christenson is in the same boat but won the final to at least keep himself afloat just a tenth of a point behind Rawlings. One this is certain, Rawlings, Christenson, and Lowe will all be hoping Roe has the same misfortune in his qualifying round that Lowe did on Saturday to open the door for others to move into contention.
Things also continue to remain tight in the men’s air pistol where Jason Turner posted a qualifying best 281 to bring himself level with Will Brown going into the final on day two. Brown won the final to stay in first overall with Turner finishing third and ending the day two points behind Brown, right where he started it. Miscues by James Hall (an eighth place finish in the final), Alexander Chichkov (a 571 in qualifying), and Nickolaus Mowrer (a 575 in qualifying and a sixth place finish in the final) mean third place Chichkov and Hall are now 10 points behind second. This one seems like it’ll come down to the final on Sunday to determine if Turner or Brown is going to Rio.
Lydia Paterson pulled away in the women’s air pistol as she was within a point of the top score in qualifying (a 381 by Alexis Lagan) and then won the final for the second straight day to extend her lead from 10 points to 20 over Lagan. Brenda Silva is now third but 23 points back. Paterson seems to have this one in the bag barring an absolute collapse on the final day of the trials.
Sagen Maddalena posted a phenomenal 418 in qualifying, 1.9 points better than anyone else in the field, but finished fourth in the final to miss an opportunity to put some real pressure on Sarah Scherer going into the final day of the women’s air rifle competition. Scherer was fairly average in qualifying, leaving the door open to competitors, but slammed it shut with a win in the final to grow her lead to four points going into the final day. With Rhiann Travis and Amy Sowash faltering (Travis with a 411.5 and Sowash with a 412.5 in qualifying as both missed the final) Elizabeth Gratz took advantage with a second place finish in the final to move into third, six points back.
Previous US Air Shooting Olympic Trials Coverage:
Preview
Friday Update
