from USA Shooting
McPhail Claims Silver @ World Cup Final, Beyerle wins Bronze
WUXI, China (October 27, 2009) – Michael McPhail (Darlington, Wis.) captured the silver medal in the Men’s 50m Prone Rifle event today, while Jamie Beyerle (Lebanon, Pa) earned the bronze in Women’s 50m 3 Position Rifle at the 2009 ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup Final in Wuxi, China.
U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) member McPhail started the final tied with Norway’s Vebjoern Berg and Warren Potent of Australia, but eventually fell to Berg by 0.4 after an intense head to head battle. McPhail qualified for this year’s World Cup Final by winning two bronze medals at the 2009 World Cup stages in Beijing and Munich.
McPhail grabbed the silver today, which is his first ever World Cup Final medal, after shooting a qualifying score of 596 points, a final of 104.9 for a total of 700.9 points.
“This was an unnerving final, we were all tied and it was a neck and neck fight,” McPhail commented about the match. He finished just four tenths of a point behind Berg, and two tenths ahead of Potent.
Berg claimed gold with a total score of 701.3 points (596+105.3). Potent, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, who is currently ranked number one in the world in Men’s Prone Rifle, duelled against McPhail for a spot on today’s podium, ending up in third place with 700.1 points (596+104.1). The Australian shooter won the bronze after a shoot-off with Italy’s Marco De Nicolo, winning with 10.3 points to De Nicolo’s 9.4.
Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, N.J.), the 2004 Olympic gold medalist and 2008 Olympic silver medalist in Men’s Prone Rifle and the reigning World Cup Final silver medalist finished in 10th place overall today with a match score of 583 points.
Beyerle, a 2008 Olympian, entered the Women’s 3 Position Rifle final tied for first place at 587 points with 2008 Olympic gold medalist, Du Li of China. In the final, Du Li and Beyerle battled back and forth right to the last shot. The Chinese shooter moved into the lead after the first two shots, then slid down into second place as Beyerle fired an outstanding 10.9 on her third competition shot. Beyerle lost the lead after she fired 8.7 on her fourth final shot, but Du Li answered with 9.0.
The last final shot decided the medal standings as Du Li shot a 10.1, securing the silver with a total score of 687.0 points (587+100.0), while Beyerle finished in third place, taking home the bronze, with 684.4 points (587+97.4) after firing a 7.7 on her last shot.
Serbia’s Lidija Mihajlovic started the final round in third place with a qualification score of 586 points and then climbed into the lead after firing 103.0 points in the final, capturing the gold with a total of 689.0 points.
Keith Sanderson (San Antonio, Texas), a 2008 Olympian and 2009 World Cup gold, silver and bronze medalist, finished in seventh place on Monday in the Men’s 25m Raid Fire Pistol event with 577 points. Russia’s Alexei Klimov secured his second consecutive ISSF World Cup Final title finishing in first place with a total score of 783.6 points (582+201.6). German shooter Christian Reitz took home the silver with 780.9 points (583+197.9) and Japan’s Akiyama Teruyoshi claimed the bronze medal with a total score of 779.1 points (580+199.1).
Eighty-five athletes from around the world are in Wuxi competing for a World Cup Final title. These athletes qualified for the 2009 World Cup Final based on individual performances in the ISSF World Cup circuit throughout the year. The Men’s 50m 3 Position Rifle competition will close out the competition on Wednesday, October 28 with Emmons, the reigning World Cup Final champion in this event, being the only U.S. competitor who qualified for a spot.
For complete World Cup Final results, please visit ISSF’s website at www.issf-sports.org.
