Final 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men

ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol · Fort Benning, USA

Despite suffering a malfunction that almost made him quit the match, the Hungarian talent erased a 7.4-point deficit, climbing from the 8th position to the top of podium, ahead of Denmark’s Steffen Olsen and People’s Republic of China’s Yang Haoran.

“A miraculous comeback.”

That’s how Hungary’s Istvan Peni defined the way he climbed back from the 8th to the 1st position in the men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions final in Fort Benning (USA). The 21-year-old shooter, in fact, suffered a serious malfunction in his rifle during the opening kneeling position — which he closed in last place 5.4 points away from the leader. A gap that increased to 7.4 during the following prone position.

“At that point I wanted to quit, sit down and take 8th position,” he admitted. “But my coach convinced me to stay in the match.”

With his rifle still stuck in the kneeling settings, the Hungarian shooter shot with great consistency in the standing series, progressively erasing the gap that separated him from the top position, climbing up to the 2nd place with his 43rd shot and definitely taking the lead with his second-to-last one.

As he concluded his match with 451.4 points, Peni pocketed the second World Cup gold of his career in this event, adding it to the two bronzes he won this year in Guadalajara (MEX) and Changwon (KOR). Denmark’s 35-year-old Steffen Olsen — who was leading the match at the end of the prone series — fired three times in the eighth ring during the elimination phase, finishing with 450.2 points and the silver medal around his neck.

Hitting an 8.9 with his second-to-last shot, People’s Republic of China’s 22-year-old Yang Haoran went from the top to the 3rd position, taking bronze with 441.0 points. It’s Yang’s second World Cup medal in this event, the one being a silver he won in Munich (GER) back in 2015.

Right outside of the podium, Italy’s 23-year-old Lorenzo Bacci took 4th place 430.7 points, pulverizing the 37th place he obtained at last month’s ISSF World Cup in Changwon (KOR).

Firing a disappointing 8.4 with his 41st shot, Serbia’s 33-year-old Milutin Stefanovic — competing in his first 3 Positions final — slid down one place and was eliminated in 6th position with 409.7 points. One shot later, another bad score costed Norway’s Henrik Larsen the elimination: competing in his first ISSF World Cup, indeed, the 20-year-old shooter nailed a 6.9 that made him slip from 2nd to 5th place, where he finished his match with 419.3 points.

The first two athletes who left the match at the end of the second standing series were Stevan Pletikosic (46), also of Serbia, and first-time finalist Petr Nymbursky (22) of the Czech Republic, who respectively took 7th place with 398.3 points and 8th with 398.0.

The ISSF World Cup Stage 3 in Fort Benning will continue tomorrow with the 10m Air Rifle Men final, taking place at 11:30 am (UTC-4:00).

The match will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel and on its official Facebook page.

Live results, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.