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Vasylyuk and Goncharova of Ukraine won Gold and Silver, proving once more the excellent shooting skills of the Ukrainian team. Norway secured its first medal, thanks to the 18-year old Bronze medallist Therese Holm.

The 19-year old Ukrainian shooter Liudmyla VASYLYUK won the 10m Running Target Mixed Women Junior event, claiming her first international medal ever. VASYLYUK had taken part both in the 2006 and 2008 World Championships, but she had never made it to the podium. The 19-year old athlete won today’s match with a total score of 369 points, and a four-point advantage on her followers.

Ukraine keeps on leading the Running Target international scene, as had happened at the 2008 ISSF Running Target World Championship in Plzen, last year. Silver went to VASYLYUK’s teammate, the second Ukrainian shooter, Valentyna GONCHAROVA, who closed the match in second place with a total of 365 points. GONCHAROVA had won a Junior Bronze medal in this event, in Plzen last year, and she is also one of the favourites of the 10m Running Target Women Junior event that will start tomorrow.

Today’s 10m Running Target Mixed Women Junior Bronze medal went to Norway’s Therese HOLM, 18, who secured her first international medal ever. HOLM shot the Bronze medal with a total score of 350 points, outdoing Russia’s Lyudmilla FILIPPOVA at the last series. While HOLM scored 85 points, FILIPPOVA shot a disappointing last series of 82 points, landing in fourth place with a total of 347 points. “I am so happy! – said HOLM after the match – I cannot even realize how many points of advantage I had on my followers… The important thing is that I am on the podium! It has been stressful: I had to wait the very last shot of my opponents before being sure of the medal!”

Check the results of the 10m Running Target Mixed Women Junior.

With one point of advantage on her follwers, Natalya Gurova of Kazakhstan won the 10m Running Target Mixed Women event.

Natalya GUROVA, 33-year old, claimed Gold for Kazakhstan at the 10m Running Target Mixed Women event. The Kazakh shooter, who had never won a medal in this event before, finished atop of the podium with a total score of 376 points.

“Of course I am happy of my score! It brought me a Gold medal, with one point of advantage on my followers!” said GUROVA, who finished in first with one point of margin on her opponents.

Coming in second, Ukraine’s Viktoriya ZABOLOTNA won Silver with a total score of 375 points. The 23-year old Ukrainian shooter had finished in second also at the last Running Target World Championship edition, in Plezen, last year.

Bronze went to the Russian shooter Olga STEPANOVA, 22, who reached the third step of the podium with a total of 373 points, missing her chances to catch ZABOLOTNA at her last round, when she scored 92 points against the 94 points scored by her Ukrainian opponents.

Click and check the results of the competition.

Mikhail Azarenko won his second, consecutive, World Championship title. Together with his teammate, he brought the Russian Federation team on the highest step of the teams podium.

Competing for the first time between Senior shooter, Russia’s Romanov won the 10m Running Target Mixed Men beating expert and titled shooters with one point of advantage.

The 22-year old Russian shooter Dmitry ROMANOV claimed Gold at the 10m Running Target Mixed Men event, winning the first medal of the 2009 ISSF Running Target World Championship in Heinola, Finland.

ROMANOV secured Gold with a total score of 388 points, finishing one point ahead of the Silver medallist, the Czech athlete Miroslav JANUS, 37.

“I can’t believe I won! I still don’t understand what’s going on around me! – Said the young Russian winner – I had won a medal at the European Championships, last July, and several medals as junior shooters, but I did not expect I could make it to the highest step of the World Championship podium”.

Starting competing at the age of fourteen, ROMANOV had won the 2002 and the 2006 World Championships shooting as junior, and during his short but successful career he also secured five European titles. He had never claimed a Senior medal, before.

“I shot a good total score, but I am not totally satisfied. I know I can reach higher scores, that’s the goal for the future!” ROMANOV said looking at his total score of 388 points, right after the last round.

The Olympic medallist of Atlanta 1996, the expert Czech shooter Miroslav JANUS, 37-year old, placed in second winning Silver with a total of 387 points,

ROMANOV’s teammate, Maxim STEPANOV, 29, finished in third place winning Bronze with a total of 384 points after outdoing Sweden’s Emil ANDERSSON and Slovakia’s Peter PELACH in a shoot-off.

Check the results of the 10m Running Target Mixed Men.

Team podium: Russia in the lead

Thanks to the excellent points scored by ROMANOV and STEPANOV, the Russian Federation’s team (ROMANOV, STEPANOV, Alexander IVANOV) gained the team Gold with a combined score of 1148 points, leaving the Silver medallists twelve points behind.

JANUS’s Czech team (Miroslav JANUS, Josef NIKL, Bedrich JONAS), secured the team Silver with 1136 points. Seven points behind, with a total score of 1129, Slovakia (Peter PELACH, Peter PLANOVSKY and Miroslav JURCO) won the team BRONZE.

The second edition of the ISSF Running Target World Championship starts today with the first competitions. Title defenders and new, young shooters met in Heinola, Finalnd, fighting for a spot on the podium.

The second edition of the ISSF Running Target World Championship kicked-off in Heinola, Finland.

Athletes coming from thirteen nations, for a total of about 190 starts, will participate in the Championship taking place from the 22nd through the 30th of August, competing on the lines of the recently constructed Verumaki shooting Arena, the trainning centre of the Finnish Olympic Committee runned by the Sport Institute of Finland. The shooters will participate in twelve events, with separate events dedicated to Junior shooters.

The Title Defenders

First competitions – check the results!

The 2009 ISSF Running Target World Championship starts today with the first competitions, the 10m Running Target Mixed Events. Updated results of the competition are available on the SIUS ASCOR website. To check the results, click here.