There is simply no stopping American shooting legend Kim Rhode. Now 39 and the winner of six Olympic medals over the last six Olympic Games, she showed once again that she is a contender for more honors in Tokyo with another World Cup victory in the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Al Ain (UAE).
Rhode has won Olympic medals in Double Trap, but then changed to Skeet when it was eliminated from the program. She won a 2008 Skeet silver, 2012 gold and 2016 bronze and on Sunday, she collected her 20th career World Cup victory.
It wasn’t easy, however. Rhode hit on her first 22 shots to sail into the third round. Her total of 36 hits was enough to eliminate fellow American Caitlin Connor, and after a rough patch in which she missed four shots out of 14, she then 13 more in a row. Her total of 45/50 left her leading into the final set of 10 against Chile’s Francisca Crovetto Chadid (43).
The final set was nerve-racking, as Rhode missed her fourth shot and Crovetto Chadid hit her first nine to narrow the gap to one. But both missed their last shot and Rhode had the victory, 53-52.
The U.S. also got a silver medal in the Mixed Team Trap competition from Ashley Carroll and Walton Eller, who scored 46 in the final vs. 47 for Germany’s Katrin Quooss and Paul Pigorsch.
Olympic champ Josip Glasnovic (CRO) equaled the Trap qualification world record of 125 (a perfect score), then triumphed in the final in a shoot-off with Savate Sresthaporn of Thailand (9-8). In women’s Trap, Carole Cormenier won her first World Cup title, 44-41, over Kirsty Barr of Great Britain. Summaries:
ISSF Shotgun World Cup
Al Ain (UAE) ~ 5-15 April 2019
(Full results here)
Men
Trap: 1. Josip Glasnovic (CRO), 47; 2. Savate Sresthaporn (THA), 47 (Glasnovic won shoot-off: 9-8); 3. Paul Pigorsch (GER), 34; 4. Haicheng Yu (CHN), 30; 5. Alexey Alipov (RUS), 25.
Skeet: 1. Mansour Al Rashedi (KUW), 56; 2. Jesper Hansen (DEN), 54; 3. Luke Peter Argiro (AUS), 42; 4. Erik Watndal (NOR), 32; 5. Rashid Hamad (QAT), 26.
Women
Trap: 1. Carole Cormenier (FRA), 44; 2. Kirsty Barr (GBR), 41; 3. Silvana Stanco (ITA), 33; 4. Jessica Rossi (ITA), 27; 5. Laetisha Scanlan (AUS), 23.
Skeet: 1. Kim Rhode (USA), 53; 2. Francisca Crovetto Chadid (CHI), 52; 3. Andri Eleftheriou (CYP), 41; 4. Caitlin Connor (USA), 32; 5. Aleksandra Jarmolinska (POL), 25. Also: 6. Amber English (USA), 16.
Mixed
Trap: 1. Katrin Quooss/Paul Pigorsch (GER), 47; 2. Ashley Carroll/Walton Eller (USA), 46; 3. Silvana Stanco/Giovanni Pellielo (ITA), 35; 4. Alessandra Perilli/Gian Marco Berti (SMR), 31; 5. Tatiana Barsuk/Maxim Kabatskiy (RUS), 25.
