Germany's Beate Gauss became the new 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women event World Champion in Granada, Spain, today. The German shooter also secured one of the five Olympic quotas up for grabs .
The 30-year old athlete scored 456.6 points throughout the three positions in the final, climbing atop of the podium with 1.5 points of advantage on her followers.
Ranked 49th in the world, Gauss had never won an ISSF medal in this event.
“It feels amazing. This is my major win. I finished twice in second at the Europeans in the 10m Air Rifle event, but I had never won a medal in the 50m 3 positions event, before.” Said Beate.
“When I arrived in Granada, I immediately had good feelings about the range. I knew I could shoot well here.”
“I focused on myself and tried not to think about the crowd of spectators. I managed to stay focused, shot after shot, and I made it!”
Thanks to Gauss and to her teammates Barbara Engleder and Eva Roesken, the German team finished atop of the teams' podium with a world record score of 1750 points. The People's Republic of China followed in second with 1738 points, while the Republic of Korea claimed the Bronze with 1735 points.
The individual match turned out to be really close, today. After the Kneeling and Prone series, the eight finalists were divided by less than 3 points. At the end of the Standing series, Snejezana Pejcic, 32, from Croatia, eventually claimed the Silver medal with 455.1 points, while the Bronze went to Norway's 20-year old Malin Westerheim with 444.7 points.
The Wolrd Cup title holder Petra Zublasing, 25, from Italy, started off the match by placing in third at the Kneeling series, and then challenged the firsts throughout the Prone series. But two 8s scored in the Standing series pushed her down in fourth place, where she closed the match with 434.2 points, just 0.1 points behind the medallists.
The Italian shooter had been crowned 10m Air Rifle Women World Champion two days ago. “I am a bit upset now.” She said after today's final. “I am not happy with those two 8s... I could have shot better. I am going home with a medal and an Olympic quota, but also knowing that I will need to work a lot in the months to come, before Rio.”
Chen Dongqi, 25, from the People's Republic of China, closed the first part of the match – the kneeling position – in the lead with 152.4 points, sliding then down in fifth place at the end of the Standing series, with 422.8 points.
Singapore's Set Xiang Wei Jasmine, 23, and the 2012 Olympic Bronze medallist Adela Sykorova of the Czech Republic, 27, were the first to leave the match after the tenth Standing shot, and placed in seventh and eighth place with 401.5 and 396.9 points, respectively.
Nikola Mazurova of the Czech Republic, 19, followed her teammate Sykorova one shot later, taking the sixth place with 413.0 points.
The five Olympic Quota Places for Rio 2016 went to Gauss, Pejcic, Westerheim, Chen and Mazurova, as Zublasing has already won a quota at the 10m Air Rifle Women event.