ISSF World Cup Beijing: Kim Rhode Takes the Silver

Photo courtesy of ISSF © 2011, Marco Dalla Dea

At the third Women’s Skeet International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup final of the year, the USA’s Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) brought home the silver medal. Despite the windy conditions, Rhode (pictured) entered the final with 72 qualification targets and only dropped the high house target of the final pair on station four to finish with 24 targets in the final. With a total score of 96 targets, Rhode was the uncontested silver medalist.

The gold medal was won by China’s Wei Ning who equaled the world record and final world record with 99 out of 100 targets. Shooting on her home range, Ning nailed 74 targets in qualification and the only straight final for the top spot on the podium. The bronze medalist was Germany’s Christine Wenzel. Wenzel tied Thailand’s Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit at 94 targets and outlasted her in a two target shoot-off. Both women were awarded 2012 Olympic quotas as the top two federations already had their slots. The USA’s Caitlin Connor (Winnfield, La.) finished in sixth place with 89 total targets (72+17) and teammate Jaiden Grinnell (Port Angeles, Wash.) finished with 69 targets.

The Men’s Skeet athletes shot two qualification rounds and will finish with a final on April 22. The USA’s Frank Thompson (Alliance, Neb.) has a strong hold on third place with 48 out of 50 targets thus far. BJ Blanchard (Vidor, Texas) is right behind Thompson with 47 targets. Mark Weeks (Phenix City, Ala.) has 45 targets. For complete results, please visit the ISSF Website. Catch all the latest updates and follow your team on USA Shooting’s Facebook.