As with most of the Olympic sports, the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) has adopted a series of mixed-gender events because the International Olympic Committee will add them to the Olympic program.
So the opening medals of the 2018 World Championships – held only once per four years – are for the Mixed Team 10 m Air Pistol and Air Rifle.
China was the big winner, going 1-2 in the 10 m Air Rifle, with Ruozhu Zhao and Haoran Yang finishing just 0.3 ahead of Mingyang Wu and Buhan Song, 500.9-500.6, and claiming a silver in the 10 m Air Pistol, thanks to Qian Wang and Meng Yi Wang (CHN).
The Mixed 10 m Air Pistol gold went to Russia’s Vitalina Batsarashkina and Artem Chernousov, who won easily, by 488.1-480.2.
The 2018 championships continue through 15 September. It’s also the start of the Olympic qualification cycle for Tokyo as 60 quota places – generally the top four in each event – will be assigned for the 2020 Games. The remaining senior-level events and finals schedule:
∙ 3 September:
Men’s 10 m Air Rifle
Women’s 10 m Air Rifle
Men’s Trap
∙ 4 September:
Women’s 10 m Air Pistol
∙ 6 September:
Men’s 10 m Air Pistol
Women’s Trap
∙ 7 September:
Men’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions
Mixed Team Trap
∙ 8 September:
Women’s 50 m Rifle/3 Positions
Women’s 25 m Pistol
∙ 9 September:
Women’s 10 m Running Target
Men’s 10 m Running Target
∙ 10 September:
Men’s 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol
∙ 11 September:
Women’s Skeet
∙ 14 September:
Men’s Skeet
The ISSF has exceptional coverage on its Web site here. Summaries so far:
ISSF World Championships
Changwon (KOR) ~ 31 August-15 September 2018
(Full results here)
Mixed
Team 10 m Air Pistol: 1. Vitalina Batsarashkina/Artem Chernousov (RUS), 488.1; 2. Qian Wang/Meng Yi Wang (CHN), 480.2; 3. Olena Kostevych/Oleh Omelchuk (UKR), 416.7; 4. Zorana Arunovic/Damir Mikec (SRB), 376.7; 5. Sonia Franquet/Pablo Carrera (ESP), 331.6.
Team 10 m Air Rifle: 1. Ruozhu Zhao/Haoran Yang (CHN), 500.9; 2. Mingyang Wu/Buhan Song (CHN), 500.6; 3. Anastasia Galashina/Vladimir Maslennikov (RUS), 434.2; 4. Laura-Georgeta Coman/Alin George Moldoveanu (ROU), 390.5; 5. Isabella Straub/Maximillian Dallinger (GER), 346.9.
