ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol · Fort Benning, USA

21-year-old Lin Junmin prevailed over his 22-year-old teammate Yao Zhaonan at the end of an exciting final, where the People’s Republic of China and France placed three athletes each. The bronze medal, indeed, was awarded to French shooter Jean Quiquampoix.

An action-packed day in Fort Benning (USA) came to an end with the People’s Republic of China pocketing gold and silver in the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event, increasing their total tally in this competition to ten medals: three golds, four silvers and three bronzes.

After they both signed a perfect 5-hit series on their second-to-last round, Lin Junmin (21) and Yao Zhaonan (22) were standing tied at the top of the table with 26 hits and one last series to fire.

There, Lin prevailed over his teammate thanks to a 4-hit series, finishing with 30 hits and adding the World Cup gold to the silver he won last year in New Delhi (IND). Yao, instead, signed off with a 2-hit series, concluding his match with 28 hits and pocketing silver in the second World Cup start of his career.

A third Chinese finalist — 32-year-old Zhang Jian — placed just outside of the medal position, placing 4th with 18 hits and missing the bronze medal that would have given the Chinese National Team their second podium sweep of the competition in Fort Benning.

In a match where the six final slots were evenly divided by the People’s Republic of China and France, Jean Quiquampoix completed the podium in 3rd position with 22 hits, taking his personal tally in the ISSF World Cup Series to six medals in 14 total starts: two golds, two silvers and 2 bronzes.

Two consecutive shoot-offs were required to determine the elimination in 5th and 6th position: first, after the fourth series, France’s 26-year-old Clement Bessaguet lost a four-way tie-breaker against Lin, Zhang and his teammate Boris Artaud (27), finishing in 6th position with 13 hits. A few moments later it was Artaud who left the match, as he lost a second shoot-off against Quiquampoix and Zhang, taking 5th place with 16 hits.