The two American teammates duelled for Gold right to the last shot, when Emmons shot a 9.0 that pulled him down in fourth place. Israel’s Starik and Austria’s Planer took advantage, ending up on the podium in second and third place.
The last shot turned out to be determinant to decide today’s 50m Rifle Prone Men final round, at the fourth and last leg of the 2010 ISSF World Cup Series, held in Belgrade, Serbia, in these days.
USA’s Michael McPhail won the final match with a last shot of 10.4 points, securing the brightest medal with a total score of 702.8 points, winning a duel against his teammate Emmons, who missed on his last shot, finishing far behind.
McPhail, 28-year old, ranked sixth in the world, beat his teammate Matthew Emmons, 29, fifth in the world, at the very last shot. The two American athletes had qualified for the final match in first and second place, with a qualification score of 599 and 598 points, respectively.
After the ninth competition shot, the two athletes were tied in the lead, so that the last shot decided the podium placements. McPhail, who fired an excellent 10.4 in spite of the wind, ended up on the highest step of the podium to receive his first ISSF medal this year. At the same time, Emmons closed his round with a frustrating 9.0, sliding out of the top-3 and landing in fourth place with 701.4 points.
Istral’s Guy Starik, 45, and Austria’s Christian Planer took advantage of Emmons’ defiance, overtaking him and moving up on the podium to finish in second and third place, respectively.
Starik, who closed the final round with an excellent 10,8, and with today’s highest final score (105.2 points), secured Silver with a total score of 702.2 points.
Planer, who had finished in seventh at the last world cup stage in Fort Benning, grabbed the Bronze medal with a total score of 701.5 points. Closing the final with a 10.4, the Austrian shooter left the unlucky American finalist Matthew Emmons in fourth place with 701.4 points, just one tenths of a point far from the podium.