Present and future stars ended their season in Lima, Peru; and some of the most entertaining conclusions this year came at the ISSF Junior World Championships.
World class tussle makes for memorable men's skeet final
Vincent Hancock became a four-time Olympic champion in men's skeet, becoming one of very few athletes to win four gold medals in a single event.
His battle with protege Conner Prince saw two athletes at their best; similarly, the junior world final showed incredibly quality.
Panagiotis Gerochristos from Greece and Benjamin Joseph Keller from the United States were locked at the top of the standings throughout, with one missed target really deciding how the final unfolded. Two misses from Keller on targets 26 and 28 saw a gap form. A couple of other misses made it look a done deal for the Greek, but then Gerochristos missed two in the space of five shots and the gap was back down to one.
Both were shooting incredibly until Keller would miss the decisive 58th target as Gerochristos cleared the rest. While the lead rarely changed, the outcome saw the gold medallist on 56 and the silver medallist with a score of 54. Gerochristos was just one shot short of Prince's efforts in Paris this summer and outscored the Olympic bronze medallist Lee Meng-yuan at that stage of the competition. The drama was not in the entertainment, but the performance.
Last shot luck goes way of Berg in women's 50m rifle 3 positions decider
"But that's shooting" followed by a shrug, is just part of every athlete's dictionary, and for Synnoeve Berg a victory that she wished had not caused so much heartbreak at the same time.
Berg and her Norwegian teammate Caroline Finnestad Lund were in healthy competition in the early stages of their women's 50m rifle 3 positions final, and the lead was changing between them, until Berg started to falter on the single standing shots.
For the first four single shots she took, Berg was unable to break into the 10s, and as a result not only lost her slender lead to Lund, but would fall further and further behind.
It was still mathematically possible to win with her last shot, but Berg trailed Lund by 2.9 points and when she hit the target for a score of 10.0, she was still expecting that silver medal. However, an uncharacteristic mistake from Lund saw her score 7.0 to the shock of everyone in attendance. With a three-point swing, Berg took the gold medal by just 0.1 points.
Speaking to the ISSF, Berg said it was a moment of mixed feelings.
"It was kind of a wired feeling, I was only focusing on finishing the final with a good feeling, so I was almost more disappointed on Caroline's behalf rather than my own success," she said.
Lund had not only clawed her way back into the lead, but held a resounding one and was incredibly consistent when it mattered, but as coaches would say, "that's shooting".
It wasn't all bad luck for Lund, who would win the 50m rifle prone final and claim the team title in the event, side-by-side with Berg.
Three-way fight for men's 50m rifle 3 positions gold sees Peiser stop Olympic medallist Lindgren
Elimination finals are at their absolute best when it is unclear who will be bowing out next. Olympic silver medallist Victor Lindgren was the favourite coming into the event and was joined by Jens Olsrud Oestli of Norway and Braden Wayne Peiser from the United States in the final three of the men's 50m rifle 3 positions.
They were far ahead of the rest and the lead would change hands between them. Oestli, arguably the least experienced of the three, was enjoying a lead until the third of five single shots when Peiser eked ahead by 0.1 points. Oestli still had a cushion of 0.7 to Lindgren, who faced elimination.
Much like Lund's one flawed shot, Oestli had to settle for bronze when he scored 7.5, while Lindgren, who thrived under the pressure, recorded a 10.6. Not only would he go ahead of the Norwegian, but he would take the lead by 0.2 points.
Effectively, Lindgren had to score high to win the gold medal. A 10.4 might have seemed enough to do it, but Peiser pulled it out the bag when it mattered with a 10.7. Again, this event was separated by just 0.1 points and the American became the world champion.
Divanshi comeback leads to women's 25m pistol crown
Nearly settling for bronze, but instead winning a gold. India's Divanshi must have been pinching herself on the podium.
The women's 25m pistol final had Heloise Fourre competing for France and the Italians putting their faith in Cristina Magnani. For the latter, the gold was looking increasingly likely as the eliminations started, holding a lead of three with just four athletes remaining.
However, a difficult round where she scored just twice with three misses, saw that lead come down to one as Fourre shot perfectly and Divanshi scored three.
At this point, the Indian was behind by one point and had to be at her best to stand a chance. With a score of four, she may have expected a shoot-off, but the French athlete could only score two, as could Magnani.
Fourre, with the momentum, was out. Divanshi's consistency during the second competition stage was paying off. She was now level with the Italian and in the decider scored four to Magnani's two to win the gold medal.
Two leaders in two shots, but Mane wins men's 10m air rifle title
Sometimes a competition changes so much it disorientates you and the concluding shots of the men's 10m air rifle did just that.
Braden Wayne Peiser was again in competition and held a decent lead that would start to be cut down by sensational shooting from Parth Rakesh Mane of India and Huang Liwanlin from China. Their consistency saw them narrowly overtake the American who would bow out on a 10.7, just 0.5 behind the leader Mane.
Mane was looking increasingly comfortable in his fourth-to-last shot, where he scored 10.6 to Huang's 10.1, giving him a lead of 0.7, but the Chinese replied to cut the deficit by 0.6.
Just 0.1 separated them and a score of 10.5 may have usually been enough to remain in the lead, but Huang scored a perfect 10.9.
Now, the Indian had to make up 0.3 to tie and 0.4 to win. His score of 10.6 was promising and it ended up being more than enough to win as Huang's shot was a 9.6, his only shot below 10 in the entire competition.