The two shooters had been the protagonists of the 10m Air Rifle Women event three days ago. They met again, here in Milan, duelling atop of the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women rankings.
Sonja Pfeilschifter of Germany and Katerina Emmons of Czech Republic met again in a top-level final, at the ISSF Rifle & Pistol World Cup in Milan, Italy, today.
The two shooters fought on the lines of the 10m Air Rifle Women event just three days ago, when Emmons had eventually finished in first with 505.5 points only 0.1 far from the Final World Record beating Pfeilschifter who closed that match in second.
Today, competing in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women event, it was Pfeilschifter’s time to step up in first place, beating her titled Czech opponents.
Sonja Pfeilschifter made it into the final match with a qualification score of 588 points, with a three-point head start on her followers. A large advantage she managed throughout the 10-shot final, ending up in first place with 690.0 points and the Gold medal after shooting an average of 10.2 points per shot.
It was another excellent result for the German world record holder, currently ranked second in the world in this event. An excellent result secured two months before the London Games, where the 41-year old shooter will try to pocket an Olympic medal, the only trophy missing from her awards showcase.
“I had a great week here, I like Milan and this range is good for me. You can tell from my results, which have always been positive here, since years.” Sonja commented.
“I will be training and training between now and the Olympics – the German champion said commenting on her preparation for the XXX Olympic Games kicking off in London in July - and hopefully this time I will be more lucky and will win a medal.”
“I am confident for the Games. I still hope I will be able to compete in Air Rifle, because I am sure I can do good there.” Pfeilschifter concluded.
Behind her, the 2008 Olympic Silver medallist (in this event) Katerina Emmons, 28, secured today’s Silver with an overall score of 684.2 points. Qualified in second with 585 points, she shot 99.2 points in the final to step on the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women podium for the first medal after the 2008 Olympics.
Today’s final kept Milan’s spectators breathless for the Bronze medal duel between the two young-and-promising Lisa Ungerank of Austria and China’s Li Peijing, who battled right to the last shot for a spot on the podium.
Lisa Ungerank, 19, arrived here in Milan after winning an Air Rifle Bronze medal at the pre-Olympic ISSF World Cup in London. Boosted by good results, she made it into today’s final and climbed up from the eighth place right to the third, challenging China’s one-time world cup winner Li Peijing, ranked 14th in the world in this event.
The two shooters fought neck and neck right to the last shot, when Ungerank fired a frustrating 9.5-shot sliding down in fifth place, where she landed with an overall score of 679.4 (581+98.4) points. At the same time, Li closed the match with a 10.2, which lifted her up in second place with a final score of 680.3 (582+98.3) points. Between them, Russia’s first time finalist Anna Sushko, 24, placed in forth with 679.8 (583+96.8) points.,
USA’s Jamie Lynn Gray placed in sixth with 677.7 points, followed by the reigning Olympic Champion, China’s Du Li, who closed the match in seventh place with 675.4 points, just two tenths more than what scored by Kazakhstan’s Alexsandra Malinovskaya, ranked 47th in the world in this event, eighth today.