Christian Reitz and Ralf Schumann secured Gold, Silver and the second Olympic Quota Place Germany was looking for. USA’s Emil Milev pocketed Bronze and the second Olympic Quota awarded today.
The new 25m Rapid Fire Final was conducted today at the 2011 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Munich, Germany.
And the German spectators enjoyed the show, as two local shooters finished in first and second place securing the Gold and the Silver medal.
It was Christian Reitz, the 24-year old Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing, who finished on the highest step of the podium, closing the match with two hits of advantage on his titled teammate Ralf Schumann, a three-time Olympic Gold medallist.
Reitz, who had won the last ISSF World Cup stage held in Fort Benning, a few weeks ago, never hesitated today. Entering the match with 583 qualification points, he showed to be in great shape by hitting 33 out of 40 targets and by knocking out one opponent after the other to climb upto the victory.
The home hero, the three-time Olympic Champion Ralf Schumann, 49, made it to the final in sixth and last place with 581 qualification points, after passing through a shoot-off to access the match. But with the new final format introduced this year, the qualification score does not count in the final, where a “hit or miss” system is used to evaluate the finalists’ scores. Therefore, the experienced Schumann was able to climb up the scoreboard right to the second place, eventually winning the Silver medal – and an Olympic Quota Place to participate in the 2012 Games in London - with 31 hits.
The Bronze medal went to USA’s 36-year old Emil Milev, a 1996 Olympic Silver medallist who had won his last ISSF World Cup medal back in 2005. Milev, who had made it to the final with 583 qualification points, passed through a shoot-off and landed in third place with 25 hits out of 35 targets.
The first to leave the match had been Zhang Jian, the Silver medallist of the last ISSF World Championship. China’s 25-year old shooter – ranked fourth in the world – entered the match in second, with 586 points. Shooting shoulder and shoulder with Klimov on the first competition bay, he scored nine targets out of the first four series: not enough to keep up with his opponents.
Then, it was Alexei Klimov’s turn to be knocked out. The current World Champion qualified for today’s match in first place with 589 points. But then, with 15 hits out of 25 targets in the first five series, he had to close the match in fifth place.
A shoot-off decided the fourth place, with USA’s Emil Milev facing Czech Republic’s expert shooter Martin Strnad, 36. As both the shooters hit two targets, a further shoot-off series was needed to break the tie. Then, it was Milev who made it through, beating 4 to 3 hits his opponents Strnad who placed in fourth with a total of 21 hits.