A battle of two World Champions ended with the world record being equaled in the men’s Trap competition at the ISSF World Championships in Changwon (KOR).
After the first four rounds of the elimination-style finals, it was the 2010 World Champion, Spain’s Alberto Fernandez, facing the 2014 World Champion, Slovakia’s Erik Varga. Fernandez hit 39 of his first 40 targets and Varga was just two behind at 37.
Varga hit all 10 of his final-round targets, but Fernandez didn’t open the door beyond missing one target and finished with 48/50, equaling his world record from the 2017 World Cup Final in New Delhi.
The other events already decided have been spread among several countries. Russian Sergey Kamenskiy, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist, won the men’s 10 m Air Rifle on his final shot, saying afterwards, “I am still shaking.”
Greece’s Anna Korakaki continued her brilliant shooting in the women’s 10 m Air Pistol event, winning the world title and moving up after a bronze in Rio in 2016 in the same event. She won the Olympic title in the 25 m Pistol event.
Korea’s Hana Im, 17, won the women’s 10 m Air Rifle in front of the home crowd in her first ISSF Worlds.
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:
∙ 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)
Men
10 m Air Rifle: 1. Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS), 248.4; 2. Petar Gorsa (CRO), 247.5; 3. Miran Maricic (CRO), 227.3; 4. Zicheng Hui (CHN), 206.1; 5. Hoaran Yang (CHN), 185.7; 6. Deepak Kumar (IND), 164.1; 7. Mahyar Sedaghat (IRI), 143.0; 8. Taeyun Nam (KOR), 121.4.
Trap: 1. Alberto Fernandez (ESP), 48 (equals World Record, Fernandez, 2017); 2. Erik Varga (SVK), 47; 3. Abdulrahman Al Faihan (KUW), 32; 4. James Willett (AUS), 28; 5. Mauro de Filippis (ITA), 23; 6. Walton Eller (USA), 17.
Women
10 m Air Pistol: 1. Anna Korakaki (GRE), 241.1; 2. Zorana Arunovic (SRB), 239.8; 3. Bomi Kim (KOR), 218.8; 4. Qian Wang (CHN), 198.1; 5. Ranxin Jiang (CHN), 178.7; 6. Vitalina Batsarashkina (RUS), 157.2; 7. Klaudia Bres (POL), 136.9; 8. Minjung Kim (KOR), 116.5.
10 m Air Rifle: 1. Hana Im (KOR), 251.1; 2. Anjum Moudgil (IND), 248.4; 3. Eunhea Jung (KOR), 228.0; 4. Apurvi Chandela (INDZ0, 207.0; 5. Adele Tan (SGP), 184.3; 6. Ying-Shin Lin (TPE), 163.4; 7. Petra Zublasing (ITA), 142.9; 8. Isabella Straub (GER), 122.1.
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.
