Colorado Springs, CO -(AmmoLand.com)- Michael McPhail continued his winning ways by picking up his second consecutive gold medal in two weeks, this time at the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Munich, Germany.
McPhail (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit/Darlington, Wisconsin), who also won gold and an Olympic quota at the previous World Cup of the season in Fort Benning, Georgia, qualified for the Final in Munich with a score of 627.3 – just .1 points off the leader, Cassio Rippel of Brazil. In the Final, McPhail would move between fifth and second place throughout the match. It wasn’t until the second-to-last shot that McPhail would move into the lead to claim the gold by .2 points over Cyril Graff of France, who would take home the silver medal. Vitali Bubnovich of Belarus won the bronze.
“It finally worked out,” McPhail told the ISSF. “After waiting for five years, luck got on my side a little bit and now I won two gold medals in a row. I’ve been close a lot of times. I changed my firearm, and the custom one that I’m using now shoots really well! That’s the biggest difference. I’m pretty happy, because the Fort Benning gold was for the quota, and this one’s for me.”
Watch McPhail’s interview with the ISSF below or click here: https://youtu.be/cZzPJh_Sq8c.
Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, New Jersey) finished in 25th place with a score of 622.3 and McPhail’s USAMU teammate Eric Uptagrafft (Phenix City, Alabama) finished in 48th place with a score of 618.2.
McPhail wasn’t the only winner of the day with Keith Sanderson not only picking up a silver medal in Men’s Rapid Fire Pistol, but also claiming an Olympic quota in the discipline.
Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colorado) qualified for the last spot in the Final with a score of 580. In the Final, Sanderson struggled off the first series with just one hit, putting him in last place. He would build momentum throughout the Final, however, was unable to catch eventual gold medalist Christian Reitz of Germany. Alexei Klimov of Russia would win the bronze medal.
Emil Milev (Temple Terrace, Florida) finished in 27th place with a score of 574 and Brad Balsley (USAMU/Uniontown, Pennsylvania) finished in 33rd place with a score of 571.
A quota spot is essentially the entry ticket necessary for a country to compete in Olympic competition in a particular discipline. USA Shooting athletes winning Olympic quotas will still have to earn the right to compete in the Olympic Games separately. Prior to today in the Rifle and Pistol events, the U.S. has only earned one quota each in Men’s Air Rifle, Men’s Air Pistol, Men’s Free Pistol, Women’s Air Rifle, Women’s Three-Position Rifle and two quotas in Men’s Prone Rifle. More information on selection procedures and quotas for 2015 World Cups and the 2016 Olympic Games can be found here.
Competition continues tomorrow with the Men’s Air Pistol and Men’s and Women’s Three-Position Rifle events.
For complete results from the ISSF World Cup in Munich, please visit the ISSF website: https://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue.ashx?cshipid=1695.
*Thanks to the ISSF for providing editorial support and the photos for this story.
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