UPDATE 8/12--U.S. Men Fail to Make Air Rifle Final

The men’s air rifle finals competition provided some exciting lead changes, but unfortunately neither U.S. shooter was able to join in the fun. Sgt. 1st Class Jason Parker of Omaha, NE, got off to a rough start with a 97 out of 100 on his first 10 shots—dropping three points early in an event where it took a 595 out of 600 to make the final. Parker finished in 23rd place with a 591. Cadet Stephen Scherer of Billerica, MA, tallied a 589 for 27th place.

Going into the final, Finland’s Henri Hakkinen had the lead with a 598, followed by Qinan Zhu’s 597 score, but it didn’t stay that way for long. India’s Abhinav Bindra, who entered the final in third with a 596, quickly chipped away at the lead. Bindra’s first three shots out of the gate—10.7, 10.3, 10.4 (in the finals, each scoring ring is divided into tenths; a center 10 can score up to 10.9 points)—enabled him to pass Zhu, and by the seventh shot he’d moved in front of Hakkin by 0.2 points as well. Bindra finished strong with a 10.8 on his last shot to win the gold.

Hakkinen still had the silver within his grasp up until the last shot, but he fired a 9.7 to Zhu’s 10.5 and slipped into third place. Fifty-one athletes competed in the men’s air rifle qualifier, the top eight making it into the finals.

UPDATE: USA’s Beyerle Finishes Fourth in Women’s Air Rifle

Jamie Beyerle of Lebanon, PA, started off just a bit shaky, firing a 98 out of 100 in her first 10 shots, followed by a 99 out of 100, but she finished strong with a pair of perfect 100s to make it into the women’s air rifle final in fifth place with a 397 out of 400.

She shot well in the final, firing only two 9s (a 9.6 and a 9.9) out of the 10 shots for a 102.8 (in the finals, each scoring ring is divided into tenths; a center 10 can score up to 10.9 points) and moved into fourth place.

The day belonged to Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic, who set a world record with a perfect 400 in the qualifying round. No one came close to catching Emmons, wife of U.S. rifle shooter Matt Emmons, in the final as she tallied a 103.5 on the final 10 shots to win the gold—setting Olympic finals records in the process.

Lioubov Galkina of Russia captured the silver and Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia won the bronze. Both had entered the finals a single point behind Emmons with 399s.

USA’s Emily Caruso of Fairfield, CT, finished 15th with a 395, missing the final by a single point. After starting out the match with a 98 on her first 10 shots, she fired not one but two perfect 10-shot strings but finished with a 97. Forty-seven athletes competed in the women’s air rifle qualifier, the top eight making it into the finals.