A little over a month after the season's first competition for the specialty
in Korea, another rifle and pistol World Cup is starting
in Fort Benning, Georgia, USA.
Among those participating in the competition in Fort Benning, these are the athletes who fare the best in the world ranking, recently won a medal, or achieved remarkable successes in their careers.
A
silver medalist in Changwon and a
gold medalist in Changwon,
Matthew Emmons of the USA will look for yet more glory in the two events that gave him the first two medals of his season--men's 50m rifle 3 positions, and prone. Emmons, 34, ranks respectively ranks 8th and 3rd in these events' world rankings.
Korea's Hans Jinseop, who came in 3rd at the men's 50m rifle 3 positions final in Changwon, will try once again his race to the gold in Fort Benning. Jinseop, 33 and ranked 3rd in the world, has won his only World Cup gold ten years ago--in Changwon, in 2005.
Russia's Sergey Kamenskiy, the world's number one for the men's 50m rifle 3 positions, will take part in the first World Cup of his season--he wasn't in Changwon. Other than the 3 positions, Kamenskiy, 27 , will also join the 50m rifle prone and the 10m air rifle events.
After a slow start in Changwon (of three events, his best result was a 6th place), Russia's Nazar Louginets will try to pick up the pace of his season in Fort Benning. The 25-year-old Louginets, a three-time World Cup gold medalist, will be in all of the rifle events.
Denmark's bronze medalist at the men's 50m rifle prone in Changwon, Torben Grimmel will attempt to climb up to the highest step of the podium after seven years, when he had last won a World Cup gold in 2008 in Milan. Grimmel currently ranks eleventh in the world, and was an Olympic silver medalist in the 2000 Games at Sydney.
Australia's Warren Potent, the world's best shooter for the men's 50m rifle prone, will be part of the competition in Fort Benning, in an attempt to win a World Cup gold medal he has been missing since the Sydney edition in 2010.
Germany's Daniel Brodmeier and Henri Junghaenel, 2nd and 5th worldwide, will both face Potent in the 50m rifle prone event. Last year, Junghaenel won a rifle prone gold medal in Fort Benning.
Hungary's Peter Sidi, ranked 3rd worldwide, has an impressive record to keep up with this season--in Changwon, Sidi beat Yang Haoran, the world's leading athlete in the event, in the men's 10m air rifle final. Sidi, 36, will not only compete again in the 10m air rifle event, but also enter the 50m rifle 3 positions, and prone events.
Sidi and Yang Haoran will meet again in Fort Benning.
Yang Haoran, silver medalist in Changwon, will join the competition for both the 50m rifle 3 positions and the 10m air rifle event. Despite his young age, the 19-year-old Yang has proved his worth winning everything he could in the past two years--three World Cups, a World Championship, the Asian Games, and the Youth Olympics.
China's Zhu Qinan, won bronze at the men's 10m air rifle event in Changwon. He will compete in the same event in Fort Benning, as well as in the 50m rifle 3 positions. Zhu, 30, respectively ranks 6th and 2nd in the two events. Zhu is a two-time Olympic Medalist--Gold at Athens 2004, Silver at Beijing 2008.
Yang is not China's only young and successful shooter. Zhang Bowen, also 19, will give a shot at the men's 50m pistol after winning the event in Changwon--that gold was the first World Cup medal in his career. Zhang ranks 7th in the world.
Korea's Park Daehun, 19, will find Zhang in the 50m pistol event, after losing to him and taking second place in Changwon. Park will also be in the 10m air pistol event, still pursuing the first World Cup gold of his career.
Vietnam's Xuan Vinh Hoang, the bronze medalist at the men's 50m pistol event in Changwon, will try to win his third gold medal in three years--Hoang, 40, has won the Changwon 2013, and Fort Benning 2014 World Cups in the 10m air pistol event, which he will also be joining in Fort Benning this year.
China's Wang Zhiwei, who ranks 3rd worldwide, will be in the men's 50m pistol event. Wang, 26, will be facing Japan's Tomoyuki Matsuda, a six-time World Cup gold medalist, and China's Pang Wei, an Olympic gold at Beijing 2008. Matsuda and Pang will also be in the 10m air pistol event.
France's Jean Quiquampoix, 19, will join the men's 25m rapid fire pistol event in Fort Benning, after winning it in Changwon--in his senior debut, he had won gold with a new junior final world record of 29 hits. That was the first gold of Quiquampoix's career.
Germany's Oliver Geis and Korea's Song Jong Ho, who were 2nd and 3rd behind Quiquampoix in Changwon, will both meet the French shooter again in Fort Benning, in the same event.
Geis ranks first worldwide for the men's 25m rapid fire pistol, and Korea's Kim Jun Hong just follows suit. Kim actually beat Geis at last year's World Cup in Granada, and they will have another chance to meet in Fort Benning.
Three more athletes should be watched out in the same event--China's Li Yuehong, Martin Strnad of the Czech Republic, and Germany's Christian Reitz. Although none of them made a podium in Changwon, they are experience athletes in the world's top 5 for the men's 25m rapid fire pistol.
Jing Jongoh, the reigning World Champion, will participate in the men's 50m pistol and 10m air pistol events. In Changwon, the 35-year-old of Korea won the 10m air pistol gold. Jin, who broke a 34-year-old record in Granada last September, is a five-time Olympic medalist.
A bronze medalist at the men's 10m air pistol in Changwon, India's Jitu Rai will try to find the first gold of his season in the same event or in the 50m pistol in Fort Benning. Rai, 27, ranks 3rd and 2nd in the two events.
Russia's Vladimir Gontcharov, 38, will be looking for his first World Cup gold in six years--Gontcharov's last first place in Munich in 2009, and he will be in the men's 50m pistol and 10m air pistol events in Fort Benning.
Moving on to women--Croatia's Snjezana Pejcic, a record-setting gold medalist at the 50m rifle 3 positions in Changwon, will try her luck in the same event in Fort Benning, as well as in the 10m air rifle (which she had also won in Korea). Pejcic, 32, was an Olympic bronze in the 2008 Games at Beijing.
Italy's Petra Zublasing, which came in second behind Pejcic in Changwon, will find the Croatian athlete in both the 50m rifle 3 positions and the 10m air rifle. Zublasing will try to repeat last year's success in Fort Benning.
Pejcic and Zublasing respectively rank 1st and 2nd in the world for the women's 50m rifle 3 positions. In Fort Benning, the two will find Germany's Selina Gschwandtner, 20, who came in 3rd and was on the same podium as Pejcic and Zublasing in Changwon.
Norway's Malin Westerheim, who ranks 4th worldwide for the 50m rifle 3 positions, will also be in the couple of rifle events. Westerheim, 21, has never won a World Cup gold yet--her best result was a bronze, two years ago in Granada.
The 25-year-old of Serbia Ivana Maksimovic, an Olympic silver at London 2012, will be in the two women's rifle events in Fort Benning. Maksimovic has already won a World Cup medal earlier this season--a 10m air rifle silver in Changwon.
India's Apurvi Chandela, who came in 3rd behind Maksimovic in Changwon, will find the Serbian athlete in the 10m air rifle event in Fort Benning. Chandela will keep trying to win the first gold of her career.
Yi Siling of China, the world's leading female air rifle shooter, will be in Fort Benning's 10m air rifle and 50m rifle 3 positions events. Yi, 26, won an Olympic gold at London 2012.
Serbia's Andrea Arsovic, who ranks 3rd in the world, will join both rifle events in the competition. The 27-year-old Arsovic has been looking for a World Cup gold for two years, since her last triumph in in 2013.
For the women's pistol, Mongolia's Gundegmaa Otryad comes to Fort Benning after a gold in Changwon--at the 25m pistol, whose world ranking has her in 2nd place. Otryad will also be in the 10m air pistol event.
Bulgaria's Antoaneta Boneva will meet Otryad again after having lost to her in the 25m pistol event in Changwon--Boneva came in 3rd, and will be in both pistol events in Fort Benning.
Zhang Jingjing, the world's number one woman for the 25m pistol, will be part of the competition. This is the first seasonal appearance for Zhang, who wasn't in Changwon. There will also be Kim Jangmi, an Olympic gold at London 2012; Monika Karsch, 4th ranked worldwide; and Renata Tobai Sike, a bronze medalist at last year's World Championship in Granada.
The only shooter from the women's 10m air pistol podium in Changwon to compete in Fort Benning will be Korea's Kwak Jung Hye. Kwak's bronze in Changwon was her first World Cup gold ever. Also, this will be the first time for her to take part in a World Cup in Fort Benning.
Olena Kostevych, the number two in the world in for the women's 10m air pistol, hasn't made a gold at a World Cup in the last three years. The 30-year-old, three-time Olympic medalist of Ukraine has won a World Cup in Fort Benning in 2011.
Fort Benning will host two more women from the world's 10m air pistol top 5--Mexico's Alejandra Zavala, Chinese Taipei's Wu Chia Ying.
Click here for a full list of the participants at the rifle and pistol World Cup in Fort Benning (PDF).