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-1 to the Games. Italy’s Olympic hope, in 50m Rifle style.

XXX Olympic Games · London, GBR

EVENT PREVIEW: Italy’s got a favorite in 50m Rifle Men event. Nicco Campriani is considered “the man to watch” at London 2012, but a number of skilled athletes are ready to challenge him.

For the first time in recent Olympic history an Italian shooter will start off the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men event as the favorite. Niccolò “Nicco” Campriani, a 25-year old athlete from Florence, ranks first in ISSF Magazine’s “Super 25 Chart”.

 

And it shouldn’t be any different: the young Italian leads the world ranking after his great successes during the last Olympic cycle. Campriani – who left Italy to study and train at West Virginia University, in the USA, has participated in the 13 World Cups, World Cup Finals and World Championship events since 2009, making it to 11 finals. And when Nicco competes in a medal match, he most certainly makes it to the podium, as numbers can confirm. Out of eleven 50m Rifle 3 Positions finals, Campriani won 8 medals, earning two Gold. His best qualification result (1180 points) and his best final (101.1 points) speak for themselves.

 

“One point can change the entire history of an Olympic cycle. At the last Olympic Games, one point dropped me out of the final, far from any medal chance,” Campriani said.

 

“This time I know what is all about. This is my second Olympics, and I have been working a lot next to great champions, so I feel prepared to face the challenge. But at the same time I don’t want to think about it,” the young Italian champion said, talking to the press 60 days before Games.

 

“I want to get to London as relaxed as possible. This is just a game, and my life goes beyond this. Right after the Olympics, I will start a Master’s Degree in Sports Engineering at the University in the UK,” said Campriani. His friend and “sparring partner”, American Olympic multi-medalist Matthew Emmons, will be the man to beat in London.

 

They know each other very well after training and competing together both in USA and internationally, and they will be meeting again on the lines of the Royal Artillery Barracks shooting venues next July. Emmons currently ranks 7th in the world in this event, but he has already participated in two Olympics, and has gone through victories and frustrations, thus accumulating a vast amount of experience. Results are also on his side, with a personal best of 1184 points and a best final of 102.6 points in the last Olympic cycle between World Cups, World Cup Finals and World Championships.

 

Following the two protagonists, a number of skilled shooters are looking forward to the London Games, and to a spot in the final. Among them, Korean ace Han Jinseop, who entered 9 finals and finished 4 times on the podium between 2009 and 2012.

 

Serbian master Nemanja Mirosavljev, second in the World Rank, considered one of the best outdoor shooters of the world, will also be part of the match. As well as the USAs Jason Parker, currently ranked third in world, who won the match at this year’s ISSF World Cup in Milan, or China’s 10m Air Rifle Olympic Champ Zhu Qinan, who declared to be focused on the 50m events this time.

 

And while looking forward to the 50m Rifle 3 Positions events we should not forget to mention the longest standing rifle shooter: Slovenia’s Rajmond Debevec, an eight-time Olympian who started his series of successes in 1984, winning and earning medals right up until the 2008 Beijing Games, when he obtained the Bronze.

 

Many contenders are lined up in this event, but only three spots will be available at London’s podium. We can only wait and see if the winning card will be the experience of older shooters, or the motivation of younger athletes.

 

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men

Date of the Final in London: Monday, 06.08.2012 at 13:45

  

Reigning Olympic Medallists

Rank

Name (NOC)

2008 Olympic Score

1

QIU Jian (CHN)

1272.5 (1173+99.5)

2

SUKHORUKOV Yuriy (UKR)

1272.4 (1174+98.4)

3

DEBEVEC Rajmond (SLO)

1271.7 (1176+95.7)

 

 

Current World Ranking Leaders

Rank

Name (NOC)

1

CAMPRIANI Niccolo (ITA)

2

MIROSAVLJEV Nemanja (SRB)

3

PARKER Jason (USA)

 

 

Current World Record Holder

Rank

Name (NOC)

Score

Date

Competition

WR 

DEBEVEC Rajmond (SLO)

1186 

29.08.1992 

WCF Munich (GER)

FWR 

DEBEVEC Rajmond (SLO)

1287.9 (1186+101.9) 

29.08.1992 

WCF Munich (GER)

 

 

Current Olympic Record Holder

Rank

Name (NOC)

Score

Date

Competition

OR 

DEBEVEC Rajmond (SLO)

1177 

23.09.2000 

OG Sydney (AUS)

FOR 

DEBEVEC Rajmond (SLO)

1275.1 (1177+98.1) 

23.09.2000 

OG Sydney (AUS)

 

 

ISSF NEWS Magazine “Super25 Chart”

Name (NOC)

World

Rank

Olympic

Participations

2009-2012 Results

Best Scores

Starts

Finals

Wins

Medals

Quali

Finals

CAMPRIANI Niccolo (ITA)

1

1

13

11

2

8

1180

101.1

EMMONS Matthew (USA)

7

2

11

8

4

7

1184

102.6

HAN Jinseop (KOR)

15

1

11

9

 

4

1180

100.0

MIROSAVLJEV Nemanja (SRB)

2

4

15

7

 

4

1184

100.5

SIDI Peter (HUN)

10

3

18

9

1

3

1178

102.7

BRYHN Ole Kristian (NOR)

4

0

13

5

1

3

1181

99.1

KNOEGLER Mario (AUT)

41

3

13

4

 

3

1178

100.4

HE Zhaohui (CHN)

0

0

4

3

2

2

1182

103.8

ZHU Qinan (CHN)

38

2

7

3

2

2

1181

101.3

BAKKEN Ole Magnus (NOR)

8

0

11

8

1

2

1180

97.7

KHADJIBEKOV Artem (RUS)

13

4

10

4

1

2

1184

101.2

PARKER Jason (USA)

3

3

10

3

1

2

1184

101.6

BEYELER Simon (SUI)

5

1

14

1

 

2

1180

98.7

RAJPUT Sanjeev (IND)

36

1

17

5

1

1

1179

102.2

JUSTUS Julian (GER)

31

0

10

3

1

1

1173

99.5

LAN Xing (CHN)

33

0

6

2

1

1

1177

100.8

NARANG Gagan (IND)

39

2

13

2

1

1

1171

99.9

KAMENSKI Alexei (RUS)

0

0

7

3

 

1

1172

97.2

BRODMEIER Daniel (GER)

14

0

10

3

 

1

1178

96.1

DEBEVEC Rajmond (SLO)

22

7

14

3

 

1

1186

103.6

KULISH Serhiy (UKR)

6

0

4

1

 

1

1172

99.2

CHARHEIKA Illia (BLR)

9

0

5

1

 

1

1174

100.0

RIZOV Anton (BUL)

42

0

12

1

 

1

1181

98.3

PLETIKOSIC Stevan (SRB)

43

5

15

1

 

1

1177

101.1

ZHANG Fu (CHN)

95

0

3

1

 

1

1170

100.7

JOHANSON Anders (SWE)

100

0

7

1

 

1

1172

96.5

Marco Dalla Dea

 

ISSF Partners