The United States’ 2009 World Cup Final Silver medallist bested France’s Cyril Graff in a breathtaking final after placing 1st in Fort Benning a few weeks ago.
Following a head-to-head battle with both France’s Cyril Graff and Belarus’ Vitali Bubnovich, USA’s Michael Mcphail won today’s Gold medal in the 50m Rifle Prone Men event in Munich, where the ISSF World Cup stage in Rifle and Pistol is taking place.
33-year-old Mcphail, who previously won the World Cup Gold medal at this year’s stage in Fort Benning, wrestled between the 2nd and the 5th position for the first half of the competition, and grabbed the top of the scoreboard only after the seventh series. He then had to wait until the very last shot to celebrate, finishing only two tenths above his French rival, and marking 209.1 points.
“It finally worked out. After waiting for five years luck got on my side a little bit, and now I won two Gold medals in a row. I’ve been close a lot of times.” Said McPhail. “I changed my firearm, and the custom one that I’m using now shoots really well! That’s the biggest difference. I’m pretty happy, because the Fort Benning Gold was for the quota, and this one’s for me.”
“Confidence brings confidence. After you get the first and the second ones it’s a little bit easier. I don’t know if I’m going to celebrate tonight, I have a flight tomorrow and I’m excited to go back home and see my little girl!” Concluded Mcphail.
Graff, who shot into the 10th ring for the whole final, ended with 208.9 points and enhanced his Silver medal with a precious Olympic quota place. He also overtake 3rd placed Bubnovich only at the end of the eighth series, leaving the Belarusian on the lowest step of the podium. Bubnovich final score was 188.3.
Austria’s Stefan Raser, a 28-year-old whose previous best World Cup result was a 7th place in Milan in 2012, concluded in 4th place with a total of 166.6 points. Anyway, despite placing just outside of the medal positions, he received one of the warmest applause from the crowded Finals Hall, as he was awarded with the second and last Olympic quota up for grabs in this event today.
Brasil’s Cassio Cesar Rippel, matched his best World Cup placement by finishing 5th, just like he did during the 2013 season in Granada. He missed the Olympic slot for just 0.6 points, tallying a final score of 145.9.
Master-of-the-house and three-time World Cup Gold medallist Henri Junghaenel, 27, concluded in 6th place with 124.2 points; while Italian four-time Olympian Marco De Nicolo had to leave the competition after the fourth series in 7th place, betraying a 0.4 gap from his closest contestant and finishing with 103.3 points.
Despite finishing 8th and leaving the competition first with a total score of 81.8, Great Britain’s Kenneth Parr, 26, recorded his ISSF World Cup best placement.
The ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup will continue this afternoon with the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final, scheduled to take place at 4:00PM (GMT+2). The final will be broadcasted live on www.issf-sports.org.