ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun · Guadalajara, MEX

The Rio 2016 gold medalist climbed back atop the podium in this event for the first time since the Olympics, preceding Germany’s Doreen Vonnekamp, who took silver, and 20-year-old French shooter Mathilde Lamolle, who won bronze.

The final event of the Pistol discipline in Guadalajara (MEX) crowned Greece’s Olympic Champion Anna Korakaki, who climbed atop the ISSF World Cup podium for the first time in her career in this event.

“I’ve been through a really tough time in the last months,” said Korakaki at the end of the medal ceremony. “That’s why I was crying, this medal came with a great timing for me.”

“I would like to thank my mother, my brother, my father and coach and my boyfriend, who all have been very supportive with me in this period,” she continued. “And also my new sponsor, who will be with me until Tokyo 2020.”

Despite struggling in her final series, where she only scored 1 hit, Korakaki successfully defended the top position and pocketed the brightest medal with 29 hits, while Germany’s Doreen Vonnekamp — who also closed his match with a disappointing 1-hit series — took silver with 27.

The 3rd step of the podium was taken by France’s Mathilde Lamolle, who won bronze by finishing with 24 hits. The 20-year-old shooter — Junior World Champion in Granada (ESP) in 2014 — secured the first World Cup medal of her young career.

Placing just outside of the podium positions, People’s Republic of China’s Chen Yan failed to add a medal to the highest qualification score she signed earlier. The 20-year-old, Junior World Champion in Suhl (GER) in 2017, concluded in 4th place with 23 hits.

She was followed by India’s Manu Bhaker (16) — 5th on the table with 19 hits — and Germany’s Michelle Skeries (21) — currently ranked 10th in the world in this event — who finished in 6th position with 17 hits. Skeries left the final after nailing a 1-hit series in a three way shoot-off against Lamolle and Bhaker.

The 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, Switzerland’s Heidi Diethelm Gerber (48) took 7th place with 13 hits, while 16-year-old Qin Sihang — the second Chinese shooter in the final — was the first athlete eliminated from the match, finishing in 8th place with 8 hits.