50m Rifle Prone Men – Australia’s Potent secured his third Gold

Australia’s Potent ahead of all
The unbeatable Australian rifle shooter Warren POTENT closed the fourth and last leg of the 2009 ISSF World Cup Series on the highest step of the podium, by winning the 50m Rifle Prone event at the world cup stage of Milan.

The 47-year old shooter Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing, shot today’s Gold medal with a total score of 702.4 points, after a qualification of 598 points and a final round of 104.4 points.

Potent has finished on the podium of each of this year’s four ISSF World Cup Stages, claiming three gold medals (in Changwon, Beijing and Milan) and a Bronze (Munich). Climbing the world ranking up to the first place, the Australian shooter also gained a qualification for this year’s ISSF World Cup Final, which will take place between October and November in China.

Norway’s Berg claimed Silver with the highest final
Following Potent, the 29-year old Norwegian finalist Vebjoern BERG placed in second securing today’s Silver medal with a total score of 701.7 points, climbing form the fourth place thanks to an extreme final score of 105.7 points (an average of almost 10.6 points per shot!). The Norwegian athlete, fourth at the last Beijing’s Games, had never won a world cup medal in this event, before.

Italy celebrates De Nicolo’s Bronze
Bronze went to the home shooter Marco DE NICOLO, 32-year old, coming form the outskirts of Milan. Supported by a number of spectators crowding Milan’s final hall, DE NICOLO walked into the final match with a qualification score of 597 points, and won Bronze with a final of 102.3 points an total score of 699.3 points.

DE NICOLO, who took the medal count of Italy up to 3 medals won within the frame of this world cup stage, was missing from an ISSF podium since the 2006 World Championships of Zagreb, where he had finished in third.