Irina Laricheva back on top: the Russian shooter won the Trap Women World Cup Final
The 2001 World Champion Irina LARICHEVA of the Russian Federation won the Trap Women final at the ISSF World Cup Final in Shotgun events held in Minsk. The 43-year old shooter left no chances to her opponents, leading the qualifications and then scoring the highest final: she placed in first winning her first World Cup Final with a total score of 94 hits, after starting the round on the lead with a qualification of 72 targets.
LARICHEVA is not new to an international podium. The Russian shooter, currently ranked fourth in the world, is not new to the podium, in this event. She had qualified for this year’s final by winning Silver at the World Cup Stage held in Kerrville, TX, USA, and by placing in third at the Pre-Olympic World Cup of Beijing, last April.
This victory comes after the slight defiance of the Games, where Laricheva placed in ninth in spite of walking into the competition as one of the most favourite to finish upon the podium.
The title defender, the 2007 World Cup Series Champion Giulia IANNOTTI of Italy, finished in third place, winning Bronze with 90 hits (69+21). She had qualified for this World Cup Final by winning the last World Cup stage of the year, in Belgrade. “I feel good, I am finally getting used to the one-shot final. Therefore I am not too disappointed with the result itself” said the Italian athlete.
Iannotti could not make up the disadvantage she had from the second qualified, the current World Champion LIU Yingzi, who exploited her two points advantage head start on the Italian shooter to maintain the second position she had gained through the qualifications.
Liu closed the round in second with a total of 92 hits (71+21), winning her second consecutive World Cup Final medal. The Chinese athlete had indeed won Bronze at the past editions, held in Belgrade one year ago.
Jessica ROSSI of Italy, the youngest finalist this year with her 16 years of age, made into the final with 67 qualification targets, but then probably paid her lack of experience during the final round. She scored 18 targets, totalizing 85 hits finishing in sixth place.
Victims of the post-Games stress, the three Olympic medallists of Beijing did not play their best final, today. The Olympic Champion Satu MAKELA-NUMMELA of Finland finished in 12th place, with a score of 65 hits, while the Olympic Silver and the Bronze medallists Zuzana STEFECEKOVA of Slovakia and Corey COGDELL of the USA finished in ninth and tenth place, respectively.
