Top Air: Sarah Scherer Earns Finals Bid in Milan
OutdoorHub 05.15.12
Sarah Scherer (Woburn, Mass.) showcased her Olympic readiness at the International Shooting Sport Federation Milan World Cup Tuesday, advancing to the final and placing sixth in the Women’s Air Rifle event. Scherer highlighted a U.S. Team performance that secured two top-10 finishers in the event as Jamie Gray
(Lebanon, Pa.) walked away with a 10th-place finish after missing a chance to join her teammate in the final.
Scherer, a Texas Christian University (TCU) junior, earned her way onto the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team after winning the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Airgun in February. The 22-year-old Massachusetts native has had a triumphant couple of months in the sport stringing together an Olympic berth, NCAA individual and team titles, and now a finals spot against elite-level competition. She’s the feature athlete in the newest issue of USA Shooting News, and you can read her tragedy to triumph evolution here: http://mag.spectrumprinting.biz/publication/?i=110950
Scherer earned her way into the final of eight shooters after a qualification shoot-off, and then came out and shot the second-best finals score of 104.5 to climb two spots into sixth position and a final score of 501.5 (397+104.5). Gray, like Scherer, also shot 397 points in qualifying but would be eliminated during the eight-person qualification shoot-off.
The reigning Olympic champion Katerina Emmons (CZE),the wife of USA Shooting Team memberMatt Emmons (Colorado Springs, Colo.), won the event. Emmons made it to the final with an equaled world record of 400 points, tying the mark also shot by Germany’s Sonja Pfeilschifter. Then, shooting consistently from the first to the last shot, she finished with a total score of 505.5 points to out-distance Pfeilschifter, and leave her just one tenth of a point from the current Final World Record of 505.6 points.
“I have been away from the top for so long, that I did not even have a clue of what the Final World Record was!” Emmons said, smiling right after the match. “I have been doing a lot of work, training hard, and it paid-off. It has been a great match, and the good news is that I feel good and everything worked as it should.”
While Matt cheered on Katie to victory, the two-time Olympic medalist couldn’t duplicate his wife’s success on the range posting a 25th-place finish with 594 points, or just two points off the finals pace. A third-round score of 96/100 points would be the difference for Emmons on this day. Teammate Jonathan Hall (Carrollton, Ga.) would finish in 37th with a six-round score of 593.
Twenty-one USA Shooting athletes, including 10 Olympians, are in Italy for their final International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup event before the London 2012 Olympic Games. For a roster of athletes participating, including the 21-person squad for USA Shooting, click here:http://bit.ly/JPwMcO
The ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events continues tomorrow with the 10m Air Pistol Men and 10m Air Pistol Women finals as well as the start of Men’s 50m Three-Position Rifle.
2012 ISSF World Cup Milan Schedule:
- Wednesday, May 16 M/W 10m Air Pistol, Men’s 50m 3P Rifle
- Thursday, May 17 Men’s 50m 3P Rifle, Women’s 50m 3P Rifle, Women’s 25m Pistol
- Friday, May 18 Women’s 50m 3P Rifle, Women’s 25m Pistol, Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol
- Saturday, May 19 Men’s 25m Pistol, Men’s 50m Pistol, Men’s 50m Prone Rifle
- Sunday, May 20 Men’s 50m Free Pistol, Men’s 50m Prone Rifle
