2016 Olympian Virginia Thrasher opened the ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup stop in Munich with a strong showing in the 10m air rifle. Thrasher was strong in three of her four series in the qualifying round to post an overall 419.3, good enough for fourth place despite her 102.2 in the second series being the worst series by anyone in the top 19. The other two Americans competing were Hanna Carr, who finished 47th with a 413.8, and Rachel Garner, who finished 86th with a 410.1. Thrasher was in fourth after the first stage of the final but faltered on the second shot of the second stage with a 9.7 that left her in a precarious position and she ended up being the second of the eight finalists to be eliminated. In the men’s event William Shaner finished 86th and Jacob Buchanan finished 103rd, both well behind the eight finalists.

In the 25m women’s pistol 2016 Olympian Enkelejda Shehu shot a 284 in the precision portion of qualifying and is in 51st going into tomorrow’s rapid fire portion. Shehu would need to get into the top eight (she currently trails eighth by eight points) to qualify for the final that is also contested tomorrow. In the men’s 50m pistol 2016 Olympians Will Brown and Jay Shi both were among the best in the elimination relays as Shi was fifth in his half with a 561 while Brown was fourth in his with a 566. Nickolaus Mowrer finished 20th in his half with a 551. All three will compete in the qualification round on Sunday that will narrow the field to eight for the final later in the day.

Beginning on Sunday is the men’s 50m rifle prone and the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol. The US has a star studded lineup in the rifle event with 2016 Olympians David Higgins and Michael McPhail (fourth in Bangkok) along side Matthew Emmons (top seven in both Bangkok and Rio). The only thing hapening in the rifle event on Sunday will be an elimination round. In the pistol event 2016 Olympian Emil Milev is one of two Americans in the field as they will have the first half of their qualification round.

Previous ISSF World Cup Munich Coverage:
Preview

The third ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup stop of 2016 starts Saturday in Munich, Germany. Four events will begin on the opening day with medals awarded in the 10m air rifle for both men and women. The US did not have medalists in either of those events in the first two stops and the only one of the two men and three women competing on Saturday who has taken part in the 2016 World Cup so far is 2016 Olympian Virginia Thrasher. The men will have six series, the women four, with the top eight totals advancing to the quarterfinals.

Also starting on Saturday is the 25m women’s pistol where 2016 Olympian Enkelejda Shehu will be competing and the men’s 50m pistol where two 2016 Olympians, Will Brown and Jay Shi, are competing. Shi finished seventh in the event in Rio in the World Cup earlier this year. The 25m pistol competition features the first of two halves of qualifying scores while the 50m pistol competition will be elimination rounds.

Previous ISSF World Cup Coverage:
Rio de Janeiro Recap

On the final day of the ISSF World Cup event in Rio de Janeiro the Americans added one more medal though it wasn’t the one Matthew Emmons was hoping for. Emmons had won the gold in the 50m 3-position rifle in Bangkok and was close to winning another. Instead he was topped in the final by Zicheng Hui of China who set a new world record with a 463.7 smashing the old mark of 462.5 while Emmons had only a 461.6. Emmons trailed from the start of the final but got within 0.8 points before Hui pulled away on the final shot. Dempster Christenson finished 43rd after shooting an 1153 in qualifying (for reference an 1172 was the final qualifying mark and Emmons shot an 1182).

Finally in the men’s skeet qualifying Vincent Hancock had a strong Sunday shooting 23/25 and was able to hang on to his top six spot finishing third with a 122. Frank Thompson went 25/23 and Hayden Stewart went 24/23. As I speculated on Saturday they both needed 49’s to tie for the final qualifying spot. Instead Thompson wound up ninth and Stewart 13th.

In the final Hancock missed on his fourth target and with the pressure on missed one more on target #12 to end up with 14. That put him a three-way tie for third and in the resulting shoot-off he missed first (on the fourth shot) and was eliminated finishing fifth.

Having wrapped up in Rio the shotgun athletes will have their sights set on the final step in the Olympic Trials May 16th through the 25th in Tillar, Arkansas. The next ISSF World Cup events are split for the shotgun athletes and the rifle/pistol athletes. The rifle/pistol event is May 19th through the 26th in Munich while the shotgun athletes will compete in San Marino from June 1st through the 11th.

Previous ISSF World Cup Coverage:
Day 5 Update
Day 6 Update
Day 7 Update
Day 8 Update
Day 9 Update

The US has been lacking medals in this ISSF World Cup event with only one going into Saturday’s action. That number wouldn’t last long as the US won more medals on Saturday than they had in all the previous events combined.

In the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol Keith Sanderson proved the better of the two Americans in qualifying finishing with a 582 and advancing on inner 10s to reach the final. Emil Milev was a bit worse on the day and ended up with only 578 and eliminated in 18th place. Sanderson had the second lowest score of the final six after the first stage of the final but was strong to start the second stage and survived past three of those who were in front of him to end up with the silver medal.

It’s no surprise that the other US medal came in the women’s skeet where Amber English, Morgan Craft, and Kimberly Rhode were all in qualifying position after the first two rounds of shooting. Rhode shot a 25 and English a 24 to advance to the final while Craft’s 22 left her a point short of the top six and eliminated in 10th place. Craft had been the winner in the first World Cup event in Nicosia. Rhode had the top score in the semifinals at 14 to advance to the gold medal match while Craft finished in a 3-way tie with 13 and finished second in the shoot-off to end up in the bronze medal match. In the bronze medal match Craft lost to China’s Min Lu 13-12 and missed out on the medal opportunity. With gold on the line both Rhode and her opponent, Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit of Thailand had strong scores of 15 of a possible 16. The shoot-off would take a little while but eventually Jiewchaloemmit outlasted Rhode 8-7 and Rhode had to settle for the silver medal.

Men’s skeet qualifying continued on Friday with the third round of shooting. Vincent Hancock went perfect on Saturday and is now in a 3-way tie at the top with 74 points. Hayden Stewart and Frank Thompson each went for 24 and are part of the massive group from fourth to 17th with 72 points. They have a great chance to make the final but it will take really good scores on Sunday, probably 49 or a perfect 50. The final will be Sunday after the final two rounds of qualifying.

Finally in the 50m men’s 3 position rifle Matthew Emmons as expected was easily through the elimination round into the qualifying while Dempster Christenson and George Norton both had to sweat it out. Christenson did enough to move on finishing with an 1155 in his relay in 20th place. Norton was close, oh so close, but his 1149 only left him in a tie for the final qualifying spot and Jinseop Han of Korea had more inner 10’s (54 to 43) to advance. Christenson and Emmons will compete in qualifying and the final (should they advance to it) on Sunday as the entire competition in Rio wraps up.

Previous ISSF World Cup Coverage:
Day 5 Update
Day 6 Update
Day 7 Update
Day 8 Update

Virginia Thrasher couldn’t keep the magic going on the second day of the 50m 3 position rifle competition. She shot a very good score, 583, but missed out on the finals by a single point and finished tenth. Also missing out on the final was Sarah Scherer who finished 13th and shot a 582. Sarah Beard on the other hand did reach the final after shooting a 588. Notably in the qualifying round Croatia’s Snjezana Pejcic shot a world record 594, breaking the old record of 592. In the final Beard shot a 302.5 in the first two stages which left her seventh going into the standing round. That is where Beard would end up after getting eliminated early.

In the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol the two Americans shot identical scores and both are in contention to reach the finals. Emil Milev and Keith Sanderson both shot a 290 and are sitting in 10th and 11th place going into the second day of qualifying on Saturday. The finals are on Saturday as well.

Men’s skeet qualifying began Friday as well with the first two rounds of shooting. Vincent Hancock was the best of the three Americans as he hit on 49 of his 50 shots and is in a three-way tie for second. Hayden Stewart and Frank Thompson each hit 48 and are in a large group tied for fifth. All three can qualify for the Sunday finals with a strong Saturday.

In women’s skeet Amber English, Morgan Craft, and Kimberly Rhode are in all in qualifying position after the first two rounds of shooting, one more to go on Saturday morning before the finals later the in the day. All three hit 47 between their first two rounds and are second to fifth in the standings.

Saturday also will be the start of the 50m men’s 3 position rifle competition as the field is narrowed through an elimination round. Matthew Emmons, Dempster Christenson, and George Norton will be competing for the US. Only Emmons has competed in this event in the World Cup this year and he won the event in Bangkok.

Previous ISSF World Cup Coverage:
Day 5 Update
Day 6 Update
Day 7 Update