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The American athlete shot a total of 780.5 points (584+196.5), finishing in the lead with one tenth of a point of advantage on the following Vijay KUMAR, silver medallist with 780.4 pts ((581+199.4).

“I had memories of the Olympic Games going through my mind” said Sanderson, who had competed in this range at the last Games, struggling during the Olympic final round, and eventually landing in fifth place. He said: “I’ve been replaying the Olympic final and these targets so many times, after the Games, that I still remember them”

“I had so many things going through my head, today” Sanderson concluded “I am happy I was able to win the Gold medal. Next stop: Munich, for the next world cup stage”.

India’s Vijay KUMAR, a 23-year old shooter, 26th in the World Ranking, climbed all the way from the fourth place to win silver with 780.4 points (581+199.4). His score in the final match, 199.4 points, turned out to be the highest of today’s competition.

The Indian athlete had never won an ISSF medal in this event, but Beijing seems to be his favourite range. Here he had indeed shot his best placement, when he had finished in seventh place at the 2008 pre-Olympic world cup.

Bronze was secured by Japan’s Teruyoshi AKIMATA, 37, a long-course shooter who had never entered a world cup final-match before. AKIMATA shot the second highest final score, 198.5 points, climbing from the sixth place he had after the qualifications. The Japanese shooter grabbed his first world-level medal with a total score of 777.5 points (579+198.5).

Russia’s Dmitry BRAYKO finished in fourth place with 776.1 points (581+195.1), followed by Jan-Marcel GOELDEN of Germany, fifth with 774.4 pts (580+194.4) and by Jeorge LLAMES of Spain, sixth with 773.7 pts (581+192.7).