ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol · Munich, GER

The Rio 2016 Bronze medalist prevailed over Russian Federation’s Sergey Kamenskiy, winning the first World Cup medal of his career in the tenth and conclusive event of the ISSF World Cup Stage 4 in Munich (GER).

The tenth and last match of the ISSF World Cup Stage 4 in Munich (GER) saw France’s Alexis Raynaud claim the first international Gold medal of his young career in the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event, which he ruled from the very beginning.

At the end of both the kneeling and prone positions, in fact, Raynaud was ahead of all the other finalists, while in the third and conclusive section he successfully defended his lead from the comeback of Russian Federation’s Sergey Kamenskiy, securing the first international Gold medal of his career with the final score of 463.5 points.

“Today it’s been amazing for me. I had a really good final, with good feelings, and I closed with the highest score of my career,” said Raynaud at the end of the award ceremony.

“I don’t feel it like a revenge on Sergey,” added the French 22-year-old, who placed 3rd behind Kamenskiy at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. “He shot better than me there, while today I just did what I can do.”

“Actually, my life changed only for a couple of months after winning the Olympic medal,” concluded Raynaud. “After that, I just switched back to my regular life.”

Despite hitting a poor 8.8 with his last shot, Kamenskiy walked away from the firing line with a great smile on his face, congratulating Raynaud and pocketing his second World Cup medal in Munich after the Gold won four days ago in the 10m Air Rifle Men event.

Previously today, the Russian 29-year-old equalled the Qualification World Record with 1186 points. It’s Kamenskiy second record in Munich after the one he set in the 10m Air Rifle Men final on Friday.

Alongside the French and the Russian shooter, People’s Republic of China’s Liu Yukun (20) completed the podium in 3rd place, securing the Bronze with 446.9 points. It’s Liu’s third international medal out of three total participations, as he previously won a Gold in the men’s 10m Air Rifle at last year’s Asian Championship in Tehran (IRI) and a Silver in the men’s 50m Rifle Prone at this year’s World Cup stage in New Delhi (IND).

Liu was followed by Serbia’s 44-year-old Stevan Pletikosic and by Ukraine’s 24-year-old Serhiy Kulish, who respectively finished 4th with 435.8 points and 5th with 425.1.

Despite struggling in the kneeling phase, 17-year-old Filip Nepejchal of the Czech Republic climbed up a couple of positions midway through the final, concluding in 6th place with 415.0 points after losing a shoot-off against Kulish.

Germany’s Maximilian Dallinger and Poland’s Tomasz Bartnik left the match together after the 40th shot. Dallinger (20), competing in his first World Cup, finished in 7th place with 403.3 points, while Bartnik, who entered the top-8 of a World Cup event for the first time in his career, concluded 8th with 401.8.

The 2017 ISSF World Cup Series will continue in Gabala (AZE), where the fifth and final stage of the season is scheduled to take place from the 6th to the 14th of June.

News and updates about the competition will be available on issf-sports.org and on the many social media platforms of the Federation: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.