The Chinese shooter won her 7th World Cup Gold medal, besting Croatia’s Valentina Gustin and her teammate Chen Dongqi.
An outstanding high-level 10m Air Rifle Women final finished with People’s Republic of China’s Yi Siling claiming the Gold medal over the young Croatian sensation Valentina Gustin, 18, who received one of the three Olympic quota places at stake in this event.
Not a single shooter fired outside of the 10th ring in the first series, but Yi bested all of her rivals, nailing twenty consecutive shots over 10.0, also recording a perfect 10.9 on her 7th shot. But, even if the 2012 Olympic Champion kept the lead right to the end, the final turned out to be extremely thrilling, as the gap between Yi and her rivals kept on sailing between 0.5 and 1.5 points.
"I am so proud of this medal. It's never easy here in Munich. And I am so proud to share the podium with my teammate. We are a great team and I would like to thank out coaches for their support.” Said Yi after the medal ceremony. "We've internal matches to select out Olympic team, so I still don't know if I will be going to the Olympics, but I hope so. I am working hard to prepare at my best."
Silver medallist Valentina Gustin surely got the best out of her first ISSF World Cup participation, grabbing the 2nd place after the fourth series and shooting consistently throughout the whole competition. Actually, she only missed the 10th ring once, on her second to last shot, scoring a 9.5, surrendering to Yi and thriving the Silver medal along with the Olympic slot she won for her country.
The competition for the Bronze turned out to be way more poised, with the Chinese athletes Chen Dongqi and Zhang Binbin battling head to head, and with Chen overtaking her teammate at the last shot available. After the 15th shot, in fact, Zhang had an 0.8-point advantage, but as she fired a disappointing 9.6 on her 16th try, she couldn’t help but let Chen overtake and claim the third place with a 10.6. Chen, who scored a World Record of 422.9 points during the qualifications earlier in this morning, closed on the third step of the podium with 184.3 points, while Zhang, the 2014 Asian Games Champion, marked a score of 164.8.
The two remaining Olympic slots up for grabs today went to Austria’s Olivia Hofmann, 22, placed 5th with 143.7 points; and to Germany’s Nina Laura Kreutzer, 20, who received the warmest applause from the crowd after she got in the books with a 6th place and 121.3 points.
Both Hofmann and Kreutzer, anyway, celebrated the achievement after the fourth series, when first-time World Cup participant, Czech Republic’s Lucie Dudova, got eliminated and placed 7th with 101.1 points. Iranian athlete Elaheh Ahmadi, 32, finished in 8th position with 80.9 points, failing to get the Olympic slot she chased all season long.
The ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup will continue tomorrow 50m Pistol Men final, scheduled to take place at 11:15AM (GMT+2). As usual, the final will be broadcasted live on www.issf-sports.org.