Day two of competition in Ft. Benning set things up for an exciting final day of competition on Friday. In one event there is a heavy favorite to hold their lead and claim an Olympic spot, in another event the margin is much slimmer, and in the third event where an Olympic spot is a possibility but not a certainty the race is dead even.

In the men’s rapid fire pistol event 2012 Olympian Emil Milev dominated the day with the top qualifying score and a win in the final to expand his lead on Alexander Chichkov from six points to 17. It would certainly be a shock if he didn’t finish off the win and clinch the Olympic spot tomorrow. Sitting 22 points behind the leader in third is Brad Balsley.

In the women’s sport pistol event Enkelejda Shehaj and Brenda Silva both shot matching 574’s in qualifying. They both finished outside the top two in the final but with Shehaj one spot ahead of Silva and thus expanding her lead to six points going into the final day. Sandra Uptagrafft was able to post the top qualifying score of 579 and came in second in the final as she cut made a big move from 13 back of Shehaj to just seven back. She is certainly not out of the race.

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, was your first day leader by eight but George Norton made up all of that ground and even led briefly before Christenson won the final. The two sit tied at 2351 heading into the final day. It’s a huge gap of 23 points back to a third place tie between Daniel Love and Daniel Hermsmeier.

Shooting wraps up and two more Olympians will be decided on Friday with qualifying rounds at 9 AM ET and finals at 3 PM ET.

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.

The question we were left with yesterday was how much drama would the final day of competition bring in the first three events at the USA Shooting Olympic Trials in Ft. Benning, Georgia. The answer came quickly as before the qualification round was over one of the favorites had been knocked out. In the men’s 50m prone rifle event Matt Emmons looked to be in great shape heading into the final day of competition. The 34-year old who won gold in the event 12 years ago held a lead of 11.3 points over David Higgins. Higgins needed the round of his life and probably some help from Emmons. He got just that as he shot a 629.5 in qualification, the second best round of the weekend behind Emmons’ 629.7 on the first day. He also needed some help and that came in the form of a rough day for Emmons where he scored just 616.8, 11th out of the 14 shooters. Emmons round was bad enough that Higgins passed him for the lead outright at that point by 1.4 points. Emmons was not in the final due to finishing outside the top eight and was eliminated from contention. Higgins went on to win the final for good measure and finish with a cumulative score of 1896.9, a winning margin of 9.4 points over Emmons. Higgins is a 21-year old senior at the Air Force Academy where he competed for the rifle team. This is by far the biggest moment of his young career and it will be exciting to see if he can keep rising as he heads to Rio in August. Henry Gray wound up in third 2.4 points behind Emmons.

Things were slightly less dramatic in the men’s 50m free pistol competition. Jay Shi led by nine points entering the final day and then shot his best qualification round of the event, a competition high 565, to easily lock up the spot before the final. He wound up with a cumulative score of 1698 besting second place Will Brown by a whopping 26 points. Nick Mowrer wound up four points back of Brown in third. Shi is a 37-year old web developer who was born in Beijing and came to America at age 11 after an eye injury. Peaking at the right time Shi will be a great story going to Rio.

Finally in the women’s three-position rifle Ginny Thrasher held a seven-point lead entering the final day. She shot a 586 in the qualifying round, highest score of the day, and expanded her lead and clinched the Olympic spot before the final as well. Sarah Scherer posted a solid 583 in the qualification round and finished in second, nine points behind Thrasher’s total of 1781. Sarah Beard, the leader after day one, wound up third ten points behind Scherer. Thrasher, the reigning NCAA champion and just a freshman at West Virginia, is a rising star who has a promising future ahead of her.

Competition is not wrapped up at Ft. Benning and two more Olympic spots need to be determined. Competition will begin Wednesday and continue until Friday for the women’s sport pistol spot and the men’s rapid fire pistol spot. There will not be as many people in the running for these spots as the women’s sport pistol event features just six competitors while the men’s rapid fire pistol event has just four.

Day two of competition at the US Shooting Olympic Trails saw Virginia Thrasher post a qualification score of 589, five points better than anyone else in the field, and add to it a win in the final to shoot to first place in the women’s three position rifle competition with a cumulative score of 1189. Sarah Beard, who led after day one, shot only a 578 in qualification and missed out on the final round and a chance at bonus points. She finds herself 17 off the pace going into the final day and even with a great final day probably needs Thrasher to struggle to get back in front. Sarah Scherer remained in second though she is now a full seven points back of Thrasher. Thrasher, who shoots for West Virginia University, where she is a freshman and won the national title last month,will be facing the pressure tomorrow.

In the men’s prone rifle event Matt Emmons widened his lead from 4.6 points to 11.3 as Dempster Christenson, much like Beard, failed to qualify for the final and scored just 617 for the day. Emmons’ 625 in qualification was fourth best in the field and by winning the final he actually had the top score of the day with 633 points. David Higgins moved up from third to second but with such a talented veteran shooter in front of him he’ll be hard pressed to overtake him on the final day.

Finally in the men’s free pistol competition Jay Shi was five points better than anyone else in the field in qualification and despite coming in fifth in the final still leads by nine points with 1127 going into the final day. Will Brown struggled to just 545 in qualification so despite winning the final he dropped from one point back to 13 points back in third place. Jason Turner went from third to second by posting the second best qualification score and then finishing third in the final.

With the closest competition being the seven point gap in the women’s three pistol rifle it will be interesting to see if anyone can make a run at the leaders to steal an Olympic spot on the final day. Qualification shooting begins at 9 AM ET with the finals at 1 PM ET. There is no live scoring so the best place to get quick results may be the USA Shooting Facebook page or their twitter account, @USAShooting.

The first of three days of competition in the Olympic Trials for the women’s three-position rifle, the men’s prone rifle, and the men’s free pistol is complete and the leaders have been established.

Scoring is extremely tight in the women’s three-position rifle competition with Sarah Beard leading with 594 points, to 592 for Sarah Scherer and Virginia Thrasher. Beard is the reigning US National Champion while Scherer represented the US in the air rifle competition at the London Olympics. Amanda Furrer, who represented the US in this event in London is in 5th with 581 points. Amy Sowash, who earned the Olympic quota in the event for the US, had a disappointing 573 on day.

In the men’s prone rifle event Matt Emmons, the 2004 gold medalist and 2008 silver medalist, got off to a great start scoring 637.7 on day one. Dempster Christenson sits in second having scored 633.1 and David Higgins is in 3rd with 628. Eric Uptagrafft’s bid for back-to-back Olympic appearances in the event is in trouble as he finds himself in 6th with 624.1.

Finally in the men’s free pistol competition the leader by a single point is Jay Shi with 562 points. Will Brown sits just a point behind at 561 while Jason Turner finds himself in 3rd at 556. 2012 Olympian in this event Nick Mowrer is in 4th with 555. James Henderson, who earned the quota spot for the US, is in 5th with 550.

Competition will continue on Sunday before wrapping up with the nominations secured on Monday.