Over one-third of the targets where dropped during the final match, when the wind turned the tables of the Trap Women event. Galvez secured the Gold medal hitting 20 targets, leaving Tkach one target behind.
Clay targets where surfing on the wind, at today’s Trap Women event, at the ISSF World Cup in all events taking place on the Olympic layouts of the Royal Artillery Barracks.
The strong wind affected the final match, where the six finalists dropped 52 out of 150 targets, more than one third of the thrown clays.
Two shooters battled for the Gold medal right to the last clay, in spite of the wind. Russia’s 2002 World Champion Elena Tkach , 41, and Spain’s reigning European Champion Fatima Galvez, 25.
The two athletes qualified tied in the lead with a qualification score of 69 hits, and shot neck and neck right to the eighteenth target, when Tkach missed one leaving the lead to Galvez.
Eventually, It was Spain’s Galvez who finished on the highest step of the podium, winning the Gold medal with an overall score of 89 hits, after hitting 20 out of 25 final targets. Galvez, a 2011 European Champion, had never won an ISSF Gold medal before.
“I cope well with the wind – Galvez said – It hasn’t been a big problem for me, as I am kind of used to it.”
“I just hope it won’t be the same at Games time. I mean… the wind! I would love to be in the same place at Games time!” She added with a smile.
At the same time, Tkach was left in second with the Silver medal and an overall score of 88 targets. She had finished in second also at the last World Cup Stage in Tucson, where Galvez had closed the match in third behind her.
The Bronze medal went to Kyle Browning of the United States of America. The young Pan America Bronze medallist got into the match with 69 hits, tied to Tkach and Galvez, sliding then down in third place with an overall score of 86 targets. Browning had only participated in an ISSF World Cup Stage once, in San Marino in 2009, when she finished in 36th place.
Gale-force winds affected the final of the 2008 Olympic Silver medallist Stefecekova, who finished in fourth with a total score of 83 hits, after hitting 15 targets in the final. The same happened to the first time finalist Marika Salmi of Finland, fifth with 82 hits after scoring 14 in the final, and to the 22-year old Italian shooter Federica Caporuscio, sixth with 81 targets after hitting 13 in the final.
The ISSF World Cup in all events in London continues tomorrow with the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men event and with the Trap Men event. Follow the match on www.issf-sports.org and on www.youtube.com/issfchannel