The Hungarian champion won his third medal in this event, this year (his first Gold). He led the match with a great score, but up-and-coming young shooters are challenging him on the way to Rio.
Peter Sidi of Hungray, 34, won the 10m Air Rifle Men event at the 2013 ISSF World Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events in Granada, Spain.
Sidi finished atop of the podium with 206.2 points, 0.6 points ahead of China's Wang Tao, who had led the qualifications.
The Hungarian Wolrd Record holder made it to the final round with a qualification score of 626.4 points. But with the new rules, the qualification score is not carried forward into the final, where all the shooters start off from zero again. No problems for Sidi, who nailed a series of 10.7 and also a great 10.9, shooting the highest average of the final to secure the Gold medal.
Sidi, one of the best rifle shooters of the world, adapted fast to the new rules in the 10m Air Rifle Men event. Since the beginning of the season, he has always been making it to the final, winning a Bronze medal in Changwon and a Silver in Munich, where he also set a new world record of 633.5 points.
China’s Wang Tao simply couldn't stand Sidi's great series. The 30-year old sportsman from Beijing placed in second, pocketing the Silver medal with 205.6 points.
Today's match turned the spotlight on the youth: six out of today's eighth finalists were indeed 25-year old or younger.
The most successful of them being Germany's Julian Justus, a 25-year old Engineer form Homberg, who secured the Bronze medal with 185.4 points, after shooting a great last series (10.3 and 10.6).
USA's 20-year old first-time finalist Davis Connor (today's youngest finalist), was the first to leave the match after eight shots, placing eighth with 80.0 points.
Ukraine's 20-year old Serhiy Kulish, the 2010 Youth Olympic Bronze medallist, was eliminated after shot 10, and placed seventh with 101.7 points, while Finland's 21-year old Juho Kurki landed in sixth place with 122.9 points.
Another Youth Olympic medallist, Belarus' Illia Chareika, 20, made it to today's final, eventually placing in fifth with 143.6 points, confirming once again that the Youth Olympic Games are probably the best stage to discover new talents.
But that's not all: a 23-year old Austrian shooter, Alexander Schmirl, reached his best international placement ever at today's final, a fourth place secured with 163.6 points.
Sidi finished in first today, but there's a number of up-and-coming young shooters trying to catch him up, on the way leading to Rio 2016. Experience or youth, what will win?