The Italian shooter won three Gold medal, one Silver and one Bronze, during this year’s ISSF World Cup Series. Closing today’s match in the lead, he scored the new Italian record, and said to be ready for the Games.
The 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men event closed this year’s last ISSF Rifle & Pistol World Cup Stage, held at the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range of Munich, from the 21st to the 27th of May.
It was once again Italy’s Niccolò “Nicco” Campriani who won the brightest medal, climbing up from the third place with an excellent final, to secure his fifth ISSF World Cup medal of the year. Qualified with 1180 points, the Italian Olympic hope scored 100.6 points in the final, ending up in first with a total score of 1280.6 points.
“This is the new Italian record. I beat my old record!” Campriani said.
“I am really tired, after competing in Milan last week, and then here. I made it to four finals, and I start feeling it. It’s not so easy to keep the focus, when you’re psychologically tired.”
“I will take a few days off – the Italian shooter said, wearing his five medals – then I will participate in some minor competitions, and will host Norway’s Bakken in Italy for a training camp. I need to keep on training and shooting, before the Olympics.” Campriani concluded. And in July he will walk into the match as the most favourite: after today’s medal, he secured his position atop of the world ranking in this event, and showed how confident he can be during high-profile final matches.
Climbing to the first place, Campriani overtook the qualification’s leader, Serbia’s Nemanja Mirosavljev, who ended up in second place. Mirosavljev, an expert outdoor shooter, made it to the indoor final with a qualification score of 1181 points, scoring then 97.6 points in the final to finish on the podium with a total score of 1278.6 points.
Simon Beyeler of Switzerland followed him, finishing in third on the podium. The 29-year old shooter secured the second Bronze medal of his career climbing up form the fifth place, with an overall score of 1274.2 (1177+97.2) points. Enough to keep behind him the 26-year old Korean finalist Kim Jonghyun, who finished in fourth place with 1273.3 (1176+97.3) points.
Germany’s flag bearer, the home shooter Daniel Brodmeier, fall on a fatal mistake on his fourth final shot, when he score of 7.3 which kept him far from the medals. The 24-year old German finalist eventually placed in fifth with 1273.3 (1178+95.3) points, followed by the Norway’s Bakken.
Starting off his final with an outstanding 10.9-point shot, Ole Magnus Bakken climbed up in the lead overtaking the qualification’s leader Nemanja Mirosavljev of Serbia after the first shot. But right after that, Bakken scored an unforgettable 5.9-point shot that pulled him down in sixth place, where he closed the match with 1272.9 (1180+92.9) points. The second Korean finalist, Han Jinseop, and the 2000 Olympic Champion Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia, followed in seventh and eighth place with 1272.1 and 1271.4 points, respectively.
ISSF World Cup closed, time to look forward to the Finals
This 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men final closed the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Munich, the last World Cup Stage of the year. The ISSF World Cup Series will be concluded after the Olympic Games, at the two ISSF World Cup Finals to take place in September and October.
The ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final will be held at the Gaj Shooting Range of Maribor, Slovenia, from the 20th to the 26th of September.
The ISSF Rifle & Pistol World Cup Final is scheduled to take place at Bangkok’s shooting range, in Thailand, from the 22nd to the 28th of October.
135 shooters, including the best performers of this year’s ISSF World Cup Series and the 2011 Title defenders, have already qualified to take part in the Finals. They will be joined by the three Olympic medallists of each of the 15 Olympic Shooting events. An updated list of qualified athletes is available on the ISSF webpage at http://www.issf-sports.org/results/wcf_qualification/qualifications.ashx