After finishing twice in second behind the Russian athlete at the 2008 and 2009 World Cup Final, and third behind him at the last European Championship, Germany’s Olympic medallist Christian Reitz finally beat his most skilled opponents, the Russian World Champion Klimov.
After the three medals won at the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women event, earlier today, the sun kept on shining on the German team, that nailed another gold medal at the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final, thanks to the 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist Christian Reitz.
Entering today’s final in the lead, after scoring 590 points during the qualifications, Reitz led the new Rapid Fire Pistol hit-or-miss final, finishing on the highest step of the podium with 32 hits.
The 24-year old German champion, ranked first in the world at the end of his personal best season, had qualified to participate in this year’s World Cup Final by winning the third and fourth World Cup Stages in Fort Benning and Munich.
To win today’s match, Reitz shot-off the reigning world champion, the 36-year old Russian athlete Alexei Klimov, finally beating him after a duel lasting since the 2008 and the 2009 World Cup Finals, when Klimov had climbed upon the highest step of the podium leaving Reitz in second.
The 36-year old Russian shooter, a world record holder ranked second in the world and recently awarded European Champion, eventually ended up in second place with 30 hits, after loosing the last duel for the Gold.
The Bronze medal went to USA’s Keith Sanderson, 36, - second at this year’s ISSF World Cup Stage in Changwon - who finished on the podium with 26 hits after shooting out the Chinese finalist Ding Feng (fourth with 23 hits) and his teammate Emil Milev (fifth with 19 hits).
The second Russian finalist, the 24-year old pistol ace Leonid Ekimov, was the first to leave the knockout match. After winning a Silver medal in the 50m Pistol Men event, yesterday, he ended up in sixth today, with a score of 14 hits (after a qualification of 584 points).