The 19-year old American shooter climbed in the lead with 2 targtes of advantage on Slovakia’s Stefeckova. Olympic Quota Places went to Germany’s Quooss and to France’s Racinet.
USA’s 19-year old shooter Rachael Lynn Heiden won today’s Trap Women Final, the opening match of the 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia.
The young athlete squeezed into the final by passing through a qualification shoot-off with 72+4 targets, climbing then in the lead by hitting 23 clays during the medal match. Ending up with a total of 95 hits, Heiden won her first international Gold medal, leaving her opponents two targets behind her.
“It feels great!” the American shooter said right after the final.
“I had missed out at the previous World Cup Stage in Beijing… but everything came up nicely here in Maribor.” Heiden commented: she had placed in second after a shoot-off at the previous ISSF world cup stage, held on the layouts of the Olympic shooting range of Beijing last April.
The up-and-coming athlete, who won a Bronze at the 2010 ISSF World Championship in Munich shooting in the Junior category, had also finished in the spotlights at the 2010 Continental American Championship in Rio de Janeiro by finishing on the second step of the podium.
“I started shooting when my brother and a neighbour decided to start up a shooting team. I tried and I loved it!” She said.
“I started shooting Skeet, but then I switched to Trap – I like trap people!” The 19- concluded, with a smile on her face.
The Silver medal went to the 27-year old world record holder, Slovakia’s Zuzana Stefecekova, who ended up with a total score of 93 targets, after hitting 21 targets in the final. The Olympic Silver medallist of Beijing 2008 had won a World Cup Final here in Maribor in 2004, and was missing from an ISSF podium since the 2010 ISSF World Cup Stage held in Lonato.
It was a shoot-off to decide the battle for the Bronze medal. Two German teammates, Quooss and Scheibel, and China’s Liu Yingzi, finished indeed tied with a total of 92 hits after a neck and neck final.
At the 4th shoot-off target, it was Liu who made it to the podium, beating her two opponents with a total score of 92+4 targets. Liu had made it to the final by hitting 74 targets throughout the qualifications, equalling the current World Record. The 2010 ISSF World Cup Final winner secured her first medal of the season, also booking a spot at the 2011 World Cup Final in Al-Ain where she will defend her title next September.
Germany’s first time finalist Katrin Quooss, 24 - who had qualified in the lead by equalling the world record with 74 hits - ended up in fourth place with 92+3 targets, pocketing an Olympic Quota Place for Germany. She was followed by her teammate Sonja Scheibel, who finished in fifth with 92+0 hits..
The second Olympic Quota Place - the entrance ticket to the 2012 London Games – went to the France shooter Delphine Racinet, who closed the match in sixth place after hitting a total of 90 targets, as all the other finalists had already won a qualification card, or their countries had already filled the qualification spots allowed.
The 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Maribor is the fourth and last ISSF World Cup stage of the year. 592 shooters coming from 77 countries are participating in the event, trying to secure one of the London 2012 Olympic Quota Places awarded here.
The ISSF World Cup Series will then be concluded at the 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final in Al-Ain (UAE), where the best shooters of the season will meet from the 30th of September to the 7th of October.