Australia’s Cox beats USA’s Cordell to claim women’s Trap gold in San Marino

The first medals of the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in San Marino were assigned at today’s Trap Women final, won by Australia’s first-time world cup medalist Emma Cox

The 2016 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in San Marino kicked-off today with the women’s Trap competition.

The 2013 Oceania Champion Emma Cox of Australia finished atop of the podium, claiming today’s gold, her first world cup medal in career.

The 23-year old shooter, ranked 53rd in the world, scored 73 targets during the qualifications, and then cleared the semi-final with 12 hits out of 15 targets. To advance to the Gold medal match, she made it through a three-way shoot-off together with USA’s Corey Cordell, leaving China’s Zhu Jingly in the Bronze match with France’s Carole Comelier.

Dueling for Gold, Cox shot 13 targets out of 15, leaving the 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist Corey Cordell in second place two clays behind her, with 11 hits.

“My day was pretty cool. I had no expectations, I just came and tried to shoot at my best,” said Cox, whose best world cup finish had been a fourth place back in 2015.

“The qualifications went very well: I started off with a 25, then a 23, to finish with another 25,” she added, commenting on her competition.

“When I was shooting the final I felt a little bit nervous to begin with but I took it as it came, I tried to relax.”

“This is my first world cup gold… it’s great. The next big goal would be the Olympics. The next one,” concluded the Australian shooter, who did not qualify for Rio 2016.

Cordell - the current world record holder and a 6-time world cup medalist - claimed Silver.

Today’s Bronze went to France’s Carole Comelier, 26, another first-time world cup medalist. She beat the 2014 World Cup Beijing silver medalist Zhu Jingly of the People’s Republic of China (24) in the Bronze medal match, with a breathtaking 13-to12 hits finish. Comelier had scored 71 targets during the qualifications, and 10 in the semi-final.

Finishing out of the podium, India’s Seem Tamar (33) and Elena Teach of the Russian Federation (46) place in 5ht and 6th place, with 8 and 7 semi-final hits, respectively.

The home heroes, San Marino’s sisters Arianne and Alessandra Pirelli, finished far from their best world cup placements, in 20th and 37th place, today.

The 2016 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in San Marino - which sees 381 athletes coming from 71 countries competing in the five Olympic shotgun shooting events from the 1st trough the 10th of June - will continue tomorrow with the men’s Trap event. The semi-final and the following medal matches are scheduled at 15.45, and will be broadcasted live on www.issf-sports.org