Russia’s Khadjibekov wins World title in men’s three-position

Khadjibekov is no stranger to the World Championship title, winning the gold in men’s air rifle in 1998. This is, however, his first in any smallbore event, and the effort Artem put into it was definitely not taken for granted. Artem entered the final with a five-point lead on his next competitors, qualifying with a 1,176. He then shot a 97.5 to finish with a 1,273.5 for first. “Some people may look at five points and think it is a very big lead,” Khadjibekov said. “I don’t think of it that way. You can’t let up in a World Championship final at all or anyone could win.” Pletikosic saw this first hand, as he narrowly won the silver medal before a huge crowd of friends and family by shooting a 1,171 in the qualifying and a 98.1 in the final for a 1,269.1 total score. Zhang won the bronze after heading into the final in fifth place, qualifying with a 1,170. He then went on to make up the difference by shooting a 98.4 and moving into a tie with Mario Knoegler, at 1,268.4. Zhang won the shoot-off, hitting a 10.1 to Knoegler’s 7.8. Mario had qualified with an 1,169 and hit a final high 99.4 score to finish in fourth. The USA’s Matt Emmons took fifth place also winning in a tie-breaker, this time between Russia’s Sergei Kovalenko. Emmons shot a 1,169 plus a 98.0 in the final for his result and the Olympic country quota. Kovalenko had a 1,168 and a 99.0 final. Norway’s Vebjoern Berg took seventh with a 1,266.7 total score, while the USA’s Jason Parker walked into the final in fourth, but fell to eighth after his 96.0 final.