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Richter and Piotrowska win on final day of ISSF Grand Prix

Air rifle titles went the way of Israel and Poland as the ISSF Grand Prix came to a close.

Israel's Sergey Richter denied some of the favourites to take gold in the men's 10m air rifle final, signalling the end of the ISSF Grand Prix in Ruse, Slovenia.

With Olympic bronze medallist Marin Maricic and Austrian Martin Strempfl in the contest, the 35-year-old faced stern opposition, but opened with a great first competition stage total of 106.1, a point clear of Maricic. 

But the Croatian would begin to falter and mistakes would be his undoing, unexpectedly leaving the final in fourth, with Strempfl quickly following him in fourth.

By this point, Richter had built a lead of 1.9 points to Jure Socic from Slovenia and would meet him in the battle for first, once it was confirmed Jack Rossiter from Australia would take the bronze.

Despite a strong showing, Socic was too far behind and Richter would claim the win with a total of 252.2 to the Slovenian's 251.1.

After yesterday's mixed team heroics, Julia Piotrowska added a second gold medal by winning the women's 10m air rifle final. 

The Polish athlete led from start to finish, ending with an incredible total of 252.8 - just 1.7 points shy of Huang Yuting's world record set in October 2024 at the ISSF World Cup Final.

Piotrowska's open shot was a perfect 10.9 and she would score another later in the elimination stage, and she would score another three 10.8s, with only one shot under 10 points. 

 

Julia Piotrowska finished with two gold medals in Ruse

After a slow start, Romania's Laura-Georgeta Ilie managed to take over Ines Martinon of Spain and Poland's Izabella Dudek in the late stages to finish with the silver medal by a comfortable margin, but distant of Piotrowska with a total of 251.5.

Martinon would win the bronze medal.

A Czech one-two in the mixed team 10m air pistol event marked a great end to the competition for Veronika Schejbalova and Jindrich Dubovy.

They met their compatriots Viktorie Sindlerova and Pavel Schejbal in the final, with sibling bragging rights on the line between Veronika and Pavel.

Although closer in the early stages of the competition, it was a fairly comfortable win for Schejbalova and Dubovy in the end, who defeated their teammates by a 17-5 margin.

Mariami Marshava, an individual medallist from yesterday, and Levan Kadagidze from Georgia would claim the bronze medal with a late push away from Khanna Aliyeva and Vladislav Kalmikov of Azerbaijan, with the score finishing 16-10.

ISSF