Women’s 50m Rifle Prone Equals World Record--Twice!

The 50m Rifle Prone Women event provided interesting competition in both the junior and women’s division.  Today Poland’s Joanna Ewa Nowakowska score 597 points for an equal world record in the Women’s 50m Rifle Prone.  While one would assume that this young athlete celebrated a win and gold medal, she settled for silver as India’s Tejaswini Sawant also scored 597 points, but beat Nowakowska in center hits.  Sawant relied on her nine years of competitive experience to nail 41 center tens compared to Nowakowska’s 39 hits.  The bronze medal belonged to Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan with 596 points. Dovgun topped three other competitors with 45 center hits.   
   
The United States’ Sharon Barazani and Sarah Beard dominated the 50m Rifle Prone Women Junior competition.  With 596 total points of 600 possible points, Barazani nailed a perfect 100 in her final series to capture the gold medal.  In her first major ISSF competition, the inexperienced Barazani shot like a seasoned veteran.  Beard finished right behind her with 595 points and 44 center hits.  The bronze medalist, Jennifer Rosemary Amos McIntosh of Great Britain was only one point lower than Beard.  Though technically tied in points and center hits with China’s Fang Chen, McIntosh scored 99 in her fourth series to beat Chen’s 98 points.