CHANGWON, South Korea (September 9, 2018)
Prone Rifle athletes shined today at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship in Changwon, South Korea with Will Shaner claiming the Junior Men’s 50m Prone Rifle bronze, and the Junior Women’s 50m Prone Rifle Team taking the team bronze medal.
The top-three positions in Junior Men’s 50m Prone Rifle were separated by just 1.5 points, with constantly changing wind conditions testing athletes in all Prone Rifle competitions today. Shaner (Colorado Springs, Colorado) won the bronze medal with a score of 618.2.
“It was definitely a rough day for the wind, just tried to take my shots when I was nice and calm,” said Shaner. “The wind definitely picked up during my second and third [10-shot] strings. I kind of had problems there compensating - I just had to trust myself during those strings - but after those, I kind of got out, got back in, and I just started shooting like I know how. I took clean shots like I know how and was able to finish strong.”
Shaner shot a score of 101.1 and 102.9 in his second and third strings over the 10 shots in each. His best 10-shot string was his sixth and final string of 104.6 – the highest string of anyone in the competition.
“My score was low enough that I thought it was going to take a 624 to win. In my mind I was kind of like ‘We’re low, but we’re just going to do our best. We’re going to keep pushing.’ I was kind of unhappy, got out, looked around and saw I was in third so I guess it was good enough!”
Shaner also won gold at the Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany earlier this year. Today’s finish marked his second-highest finish internationally. The last time the United States won a medal in Junior Men’s 50m Prone Rifle at the World Championships was in 2002 Joe Hein (Mason, Michigan) won gold.
As Prone Rifle is no longer an Olympic event, Finals were not contested in these events and medals were based on Qualification performance. Team medals were based on the cumulative score of a nation’s athletes in Qualification.
Matthew Liao (Yorba Linda, California) finished in 38th place with a score of 608.5 and 13-year-old Braden Peiser (San Angelo, Texas) finished in 48th place with a score of 600.8.
The Junior Women’s 50m Prone Rifle bronze was won by the United States with their cumulative score of 1846.3. The U.S. team won silver in this event at last year’s Junior World Championship in Suhl.
The top finisher for the U.S. in Junior Women’s 50m Prone Rifle was Morgan Phillips (Salisbury, Maryland), who finished in fifth place with a score of 618.8. Phillips won gold in this event at the Junior World Cup in Suhl earlier this year, setting a Junior World Record of 626.8.
Katie Zaun (Buffalo, North Dakota) finished in 19th place with a score of 614.2 and Elizabeth Marsh (Searcy, Arkansas) finished in 25th place with a score of 613.3.
The Men’s 300m Prone Rifle competition contested their Elimination relays today to narrow the field that will advance to Qualification tomorrow. Today’s scores do not carry over to tomorrow’s Qualification match.
Michael McPhail (Darlington, Wisconsin/U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit) shot a score of 590. Johnny Whidden, Jr. (Nashville, Georgia) shot a 579 and Hein shot a score of 558. McPhail and Whidden will advance to Qualification.
The Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol competition also kicked off in the Open and Junior divisions with the first of its two stages.
In Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol, three-time Olympian Keith Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colorado) sits in 23rd place with a score of 289. Brian Kim (Los Angeles, California) is in 52nd with a score of 281 and Alex Chichkov (Temple Terrace, Florida) is in 61st place with a score of 274.
On the Junior side, Henry Leverett (Bainbridge, Georgia) sits in second place after the first day with his score of 292. His brother, Jack Leverett III (Bainbridge, Georgia), is in 13th place with a score of 284 and Paul Kang (Los Angeles, California) is in 30th place with a score of 271.
The Junior and Open divisions will also shoot Stage Two tomorrow, along with Finals later in the day.
Complete results and start lists from the ISSF World Championship: https://www.issf-sports.org/competition ... hipid=1750.
Up next at the ISSF World Championship tomorrow are the conclusion of the Open and Junior competitions of Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol, the Junior Men’s Three-Position Rifle event, 300m Prone Rifle for Men and Women, as well as the start of the Skeet competition for Women and Junior Men.
The 52nd ISSF World Championship runs through September 15 at the Changwon International Shooting Range. More than 1,800 athletes from 91 countries have gathered in Changwon to compete in the 15 Olympic Shooting events, as well as 51 non-Olympic events across five disciplines.
Check out the complete World Champs U.S. Team preview in the latest edition of USA Shooting News: http://www.usashooting.org/news/usasnew ... index.html.
Complete schedule of the ISSF World Championship (Changwon is 13 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone): http://www.issf-sports.org/media/calend ... ith_VC.pdf.
Be sure to follow the team online throughout the World Championship:
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