Shooting Day 7 Preview: Emmons set to follow his wife’s example
(BEIJING, August 14) — The highlight of tomorrow’s Shooting action will be the final of the Men’s 50m Rifle Prone.
Matthew Emmons of the United States is a strong chance to win his second gold medal in the event, following on from his success at Athens 2004.
For inspiration, Emmons does not need to look any further than his wife Katerina, who has already won two medals at Beijing 2008 — a gold medal in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle and a silver medal in the Women’s 50m Rifle Three Positions.
Emmons will be challenged by Australian Warren Potent, who equaled the World record for a final score at the Beijing World Cup in April 2008.
After winning bronze medals at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, Belarusian Sergei Martynov will be looking to up the ante and win gold.
The qualification round of the Men’s 50m Rifle Prone will begin tomorrow at 9 a.m. local time (UTC/GMT +8), while the final will begin at 11:30 a.m. The top eight shooters from the qualification round advance to the final.
In addition to the Men’s 50m Rifle Prone, the first qualification stages of both the Men’s Skeet and the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol will be held tomorrow.
There will be a total of four past gold medalists in the Men’s Skeet: Italian Andrea Benelli (Athens 2004), Ukrainian Mykola Milchev (Sydney 2000), Italian Ennio Falco (Atlanta 1996) and German Axel Wegner (1988).
The only gold medalist from the previous five Games that will not be present will be China’s Zhong Shan, the only woman to a win a shooting event that was open to both women and men. Women now have their own Skeet event, which was won by Italy’s Chiara Cainero today.
The Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol promises to be a battle between two German shooters. Germany’s Ralf Schumann will embark on his campaign to win a fourth Olympic gold medal in the event.
However, his compatriot Christian Reitz broke the world records for both the qualification and final scores at the Milan World Cup in May 2008. The 21-year-old Reitz will need to handle the pressure of shooting at the Olympics and not be outwitted by his experienced opponent, the 46-year-old Schumann.
