The Olympic medallist of Athens 2004 came back atop of an international podium thanks to an extraordinary score in the standing position. Youth Olympic Game's Bronze Kulish of Ukraine and Austria's top-scorer Schmirl followed in second and third place.
The Standing position made the difference, at today's 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men event, at the 2013 ISSF World Cup in Granada, Spain.
The Standing turned indeed the table of today's match, giving the Gold medal to China's Jie Li, who climbed up the scoreboard after closing the Prone and Kneeling positions in seventh place.
34-year old Li, Silver medallist at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games in the Air Rifle event, turned out to be unbeatable in the last of the three positions, ending up on the podium with an overall score of 456.5 points.
With 52.6 and 51.1 points in the first two Standing series, the Chinese athlete build up a safe lead over his followers, eventually closing the match with five points of margin on his closest opponents.
Li, an expert 10m Air Rifle shooter, had never won an ISSF medal in this event before. Now, thanks to today's victory, he will have another chance to test his skills against the best shooters of the world, as he qualified for the 2013 ISSF World Cup Final to be held in Munich in November.
And there he will meet again today's Silver medallist, Ukraine’s 20-year old Serhiy Kulish, a natural talent discovered at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, where the young athlete won Bronze at the 10m Air Rifle Men event. Shooting consistently since the first kneeling series, Kulish ended up in second place today, pocketing his first world cup Silver medal ever with 451.8 points. “The medal was in my plan, it's not a surprise for me.” Said the young shooter, showing great self confidence.
Today's Bronze went to one of the most successful protagonists of this 2013 ISSF World Cup in Granada, Austria's Alexander Schmirl, 23, who had won the 50m Rifle Prone Men event two days ago, and placed fourth at the 10m Air Rifle Men event at the beginning of the world cup stage. Today, Schmirl climbed up on the podium with 440.7 points, in spite of a disappointing last shot of 7.1 points. “I did not realize that I was in the top-3 until the fourth shooter was eliminated. When it looked at the monitor, I understood that I had achieved another medal. I was a bit nervous and I fired a bad shot... That's all!” Schmirl said.
Norway's Ole Kristian, 24, who had won a Silver medal at this year's ISSF Wolrd Cup in Munich, placed in fourth with 431.6 points, after shooting among the top-3 throughout the kneeling and the prone positions. He was followed by the Sydney 2000 Olympic Gold Medallist Rajmond Debevec, 50, from Slovenia, who placed in fifth with 420.6 points. The qualification's leader Artur Ayvazyan, after two good results in the kneeling and prone positions, lost his medal chances in the first standing series by scoring 45.9 points, and placed in sixth with an overall score of 411.4 points.
The 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men final was the last Rifle & Pistol event of the 2013 ISSF World Cup in All Events in Granda, which continues today with the Skeet Women event (taking place at 8 PM local time) and will be concluded by the Skeet Men event tomorrow (7.30 PM local time).