ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun · Changwon, KOR

The 2008 Olympic Champion beat Fatima Galvez and Alessandra Perilli to take the brightest medal in a cold, windy and rainy day in Changwon, in the first official shotgun competition held at the new shooting range that will be used for the 2018 ISSF World Championship to be hosted here in September.

The weather conditions plaid a big role in today’s Trap Women final at the 2018 ISSF World Cup in Changwon (KOR). The temperature dropped this morning, as rain started falling and wind blowing.

In spite of it, at the end of the qualifications, San Marino’s Alessandra Perilli finished atop of the scoreboard with a new qualification world record of 122 hits out of 125 targets.

“I love to shoot in the rain,” she said. “I know it sounds strange, but I give my best when the weather is at its worst.” Tables turned during the final, tough. Perilli started-off by missing three targets out of her first five, while Spain’s Fatima Galvez and Finland’s Satu Makela-Nummela overtook her.

After the first 25 targets, it was Russian Federation’s Tatiana Barsuk who was eliminated, taking the sixth place with 16 hits. She was followed by Australia’s Penny Smith, the winner of last year’s ISSF World Cup in New Delhi, who closed the match in fifth with 20 hits out of 30 targets.

Perilli fought neck and neck against China’s Wang Xiaojing right to the 35th target, when she eventually left her opponents in fourth with 23 hits, advancing to take the Bronze with 27 hits out of 40 targets.

The duel for the Gold medal between Galvez and Makela-Nummela was decided by the last two series.

31-year old Galvez missed three targets out of 10, eventually placing herself in second place with 37 total hits.

At the same time, the 2008 Olympic Champion Makela-Nummela zeroed in, and hit 9 out of her last 10 targets, finishing atop of the podium with a total score of 41 hits. The Finnish shooter had won her last ISSF World Cup gold medal back in 2016.