Competing in the ISSF World Cup in Munich, Germany, the home hero Christian Reitz clinched the brightest medal beating USA's Sanderson and Russia's Klimov.
Germany's Christian Reitz won a thrilling 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final on his home turf, today, at the ISSF World Cup in Munich.
The 28-year old shooter qualified for the final match with an outstanding score of 592 points, just 1 point shy of equalling his own world record established at the 2013 European Championship in Osijeck (CRO).
In the medal match, Reitz kept on nailing great shots and collecting hits, shot after shot. The young athlete moved atop of the board after the first series, and kept the lead right until the end of the final.
With a score of 32 hits, he outscored USA's 40-year old two-time Olympian Keith Sanderson - second with 26 hits - and collected his second consecutive world cup medal after winning Bronze at the last world cup stage in Fort Benning (USA).
“I feel great after this competition, it has been a nice one, with a gold medal at the end. I can't ask for more!” Reitz said after the final, surrounded by his German teammates.
“I struggled a little bit in the first two series, but after that all worked very well: I moved into the lead and stayed there.”
The 2010 World Champion Alexi Klimov of the Russian Federation, 38, took today's Bronze with 22 hits, after a close head and head fight against Sanderson: the two athletes were tied with 19 hits each until the 7th series, when Sanderson move ahead with a 5-hit series beating Klimov's 3 hits.
Both Sanderson and Klimov secured a Rio 2016 Olympic Quota place for their countries, as Reitz had already won a qualification slot at the last world cup stage.
“I didn't put too much pressure on myself about winning a quota place” Reitz said, commenting on his world cup season. “At the last world cup in Fort Benning, I just focused on getting upon the podium, and then the quota came by itself. Now that I have achieved an Olympic qualification slot, it's of course easier for me because the pressure isn't there anymore.”
India's 27-year old Gurpeet Singh, ranked 41st in the world, took today's fourth place with 19 hits, beating the reigning Olympic Champion Leuris Pupo of Cuba who landed in fifth place with a final score of 13 hits after firing a disappointing 2-hit series.
China's Zhang Fusheng, a 21-year old shooter who had won a world cup silver here in Munich back in 2013, followed them in sixth place with 10 hits.
The ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Munich will continue tomorrow, Sunday the 31st of May, with three more events: the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women final (11:30), the 10m Air Pistol Men final (13:15) and the ISSF Target Sprint competition (starting at 14:00, GMT+2).