The second Gold medal for Spain at the ISSF World Cup stage in Rio de Janeiro (BRA) arrived thanks to Trap Men shooter Alberto Fernandez, after Pablo Carrera paved the way yesterday in the 10m Air Pistol Men event.
Fernandez Gold is his second in the 2016 ISSF World Cup Series, as he already claimed one in Nicosia less than one month ago. Walking on the highest step of the World Cup podium twice in less than four weeks, and only four months away from the Summer Games, surely puts him among the favourites for the Olympic Gold medal in August.
After qualifying for the Gold medal match with 13 hits, tied with Belgium’s Yannick Peeters, Fernandez took a 3-points lead after the first six targets, only to see his Belgian opponent close the gap with a great second half of the match, where he hit 9 targets out of 9.
Tied at 12, the two shooters entered a Gold medal shoot-off, where they both shot consistently. Indeed, it took seven additional targets to crown Fernandez with the Trap Men Gold medal.
“I’m happy for this second Gold medal, and I’m glad that it arrived here in the Olympic Shooting Centre in Rio.” Fernandez said. “I worked really hard in the last months, and it’s really great to see that all that work paid off.”
Peeters, participating here in his first World Cup final phase, was also satisfied with his performance.
“I was a little surprised of the speed of the Bronze medal match, so I missed some in the beginning and I had to regain my focus to start hitting targets again. I’m happy about my final.” Said Peeters after the Gold medal match. “The range is beautiful and very well made, but the weather is something else. I’m not used to this kind of temperatures in Belgium, so I was really fighting to stay alive under the sun!”
In the Bronze medal match, Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas of Guatemala and Jiri Liptak of Czech Republic, who both finished the semifinal with 12 hits, battled until the very last target, when Brol Cardenas earned his first World Cup medal with an 11-to-9 final score.
After surviving an incredible nine-way shoot-off to enter the final, Great Britain’s Edward Ling finished 6th with 10 semifinal targets, while Slovakia’s Marian Kovacocy placed 5th with the same score.
The ISSF World Cup stage in Rio de Janeiro will continue tomorrow with the 10m Air Rifle Men final, scheduled at 1:30 PM (UTC-3).
News and updates will be available on the ISSF official website and on its social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Weibo. While highlights of all the finals will be available on YouTube and Youku.