Thomas Derek Grice (24) and Penny Smith (22) of Australia are the first ever ISSF World Champions in the Trap Mixed Team event. The historic Gold medal match that crowned them took place at the Foxlodge Shooting Range in Moscow (RUS), where the ISSF World Championship Shotgun is currently taking place.
The two Australian shooters came back from a 6-hit deficit, overtaking Spain’s Antonio Bailon (33) and Beatriz Martinez (31) in the final stage of the match and claiming the Gold medal with the narrowest margin: 33 hits to 32.
“I tried not to look at he scoreboard,” said Grice after the medal ceremony. “So to be honest, I actually thought we lost!”
“This Gold medal is for my grandpa back home, he introduced me to the shooting sport, so it’s got to be for him!” he concluded.
“It feels pretty good!” added Smith, who secured her first World Cup Gold earlier this year in New Delhi (IND). “I think it’ll take some time to realize what we’ve done. I want to dedicate this win to my family, they’ve been very supportive with me.”
In the previous Bronze medal match, Ashley Carroll (22) and Derek Haldeman (26) of the United States’ crushed 41 targets, bagging the Bronze medal and prevailing over the second Australian couple, Catherine Skinner (27) and Jack Wallace (20), who hit 38. It’s the first medal in a World Championship for both Carroll and Haldeman, who previously qualified for the finals of the Trap individual events, respectively placing 6th and 5th.
The home Russian team took a disappointing 5th place after failing to qualify for the medal matches. However, despite finishing with 27 target hits, Alexey Alipov (42) and Tatiana Barsuk (32) won the warmest applause from the audience, who filled the stands of the Foxlodge Shooting Range in maybe the coldest day of the competition so far.
A second Spanish team composed by Alberto Fernandez (34) and Fatima Galvez (30) was also eliminated at semifinal stage, finishing with 22 clays and taking 6th place.
The ISSF World Championship Shotgun in Moscow (RUS) will continue tomorrow with the Double Trap Men Junior final, scheduled at 4:45 pm (UTC+3:00), and the Double Trap Men final, taking place at 5:45 pm. Both finals will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel, on its official Facebook page and on the Olympic Channel.
Live results of the competitions, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.