The third ISSF World Cup for the Shotgun disciplines gets underway on Thursday in Changwon (KOR), with 360 shooters from 58 countries ready in five events. The schedule:
● 10 May: Women’s Skeet
● 11 May: Men’s Skeet
● 15 May: Women’s Trap
● 16 May: Men’s Trap
● 17 May: Mixed Trap
Most of the fields are excellent, including multiple recent medal winners at the highest level of international competition:
Men’s Skeet:
● Vincent Hancock (USA) ~ 2008-12 Olympic Champion; 2018 World Champion
● Erik Watndal (NOR) ~ 2018 World Championships silver medalist
● Riccardo Filippelli (ITA) ~ 2018 World Championships bronze medalist
● Alexander Zemlin (RUS) ~ 2014 World Champion
● Anthony Terras (FRA) ~ 2014 World Championships silver medalist
● Abdullah Al-Rashidi (KUW) ~ 2016 Olympic bronze medalist
● Marcus Svensson (SWE) ~ 2016 Olympic silver medalist
Women’s Skeet:
● Kim Rhode (USA) ~ 2018 Worlds silver; six-time Olympic medalist 1996-2016
● Elena Allen (GBR) ~ 2014 World Championships silver medalist
● Danka Bartekova (SVK) ~ 2012 Olympic silver; 2014 World Championships bronze
Men’s Trap:
● Giovanni Cernogoraz (CRO) ~ 2012 Olympic Champion
● Massimo Fabbrizi (ITA) ~ 2012 Olympic silver medalist
● Edward Ling (GBR) ~ 2014 World Championships silver
Women’s Trap:
● Xiaojing Wang (CHN) ~ 2018 World Championships silver medalist
● Silvana Stanco (ITA) ~ 2018 World Championships bronze medalist
The amazing Rhode has won the prior two World Cup this season, in Acapulco (MEX) in March and Al Ain (UAE) in April, the only one in the entire World Cup circuit to do so! She is also the defending champion in Changwon, having won last year with a world record of 58/60 in the final, defeating Amber Hill (GBR).
In fact, all four winners at the 2018 Changwon World Cup are back, with Hancock having won in men’s Skeet, Italy’s Mauro de Filippis in men’s Trap and Satu Makkela-Nummela (FIN) in women’s Trap.
The main attraction of these World Cup events is Olympic qualification places, available as quota slots for their country (not personally) for the top two finishers. Some athletes who have already clinched quota places are skipping Changwon. Thus far, across all shooting events, China leads with 19 places secured so far, followed by Russia and the United States with 13 each and then Japan (12).
The ISSF has excellent scoring, reporting and results service on its Web site; look for results here.
