Zhu Yingjie claimed the third individual gold medal of the People’s Republic of China at the ISSF Junior World Championship in Suhl, Germany, winning the junior women’s 10m Air Rifle final at the end of day-3.
The 17-year old athlete scored 250.3 points, climbing atop of the podium with 1.3 points of advantage on silver medalist Anna Janshen of Germany.
2016 Asian Champion Zhu climbed in the lead after the 20th shot, overtaking Janshen who had been leading until then. The 15-year old German athlete, supported by the home crowd here in Suhl, finished in second place with 249.0 points, recording her best result in an international match following a bronze medal at this year’s European Championship in Maribor.
Zhu’s 15-year old teammate Chen Yimei joined them on the podium, sealing her international debut with 227.7 points worth the Bronze medal.
Rio 2016 Olympic Champion - 20-year old Virigina Thrasher (USA) - closed the match in 5th place with 185.8 points, finishing behind Argentina’s 17-year old Fernanda Russo, 4th with 206.5 points. Serbia’s 19-year old Milica Babic - a member of the West Virginia University Mountaineers rifle team along with Thrasher – took 6th place with 164.7 points.
The 2016 Junior European Champion and two-time junior world cup winner Anastasiia Galashina, 20, of the Russian Federation, and first-time participant Gao Mingwei of the People’s Republic of China followed in 7th and 8th place, with 143.5 and 123.0 points, respectively.
The 10m Air Rifle Women Junior final closed day-3 of the ISSF Junior World Championship in Suhl. The championship will continue tomorrow with two more medal events, the junior’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men (12:30 CET) and the 25m Pistol Women (17.10). Follow the matches live on www.issf-sports.org