IPC World Cup USA Opens with Near-medal Finishes in Fort Benning
OutdoorHub 06.04.14
The first day of competition at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Cup at Fort Benning, Georgia wrapped today with medals awarded in the R1 Men’s and R2 Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 events, as well as P3 Mixed 25m Sport Pistol SH1.
Though the United States was shut out of the medals today, strong performances were provided by Nick Beach (Dresden, Ohio, pictured right) and Mike Tagliapietra (Fon du Lac, Wisconsin) who both earned fourth-place finishes in their respective events.
Tagliapietra qualified for the P3 Final in first place with a score of 572, but would have to battle again as all Finals begin with a zero start. In a tightly-contested match for the top-two positions, Tagliapietra would eventually face Von Zeuner Kohne of South Africa in the bronze-medal match where he’d pull away to win, 7-1. Kerry Morris (Grand Prairie, Texas) finished in 13th place. U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit teammates Shaun Tichenor (Fort Mitchell, Ala.) and Jeffrey Brown (Pueblo, Colo.) also finished in 14th and 16th place respectively.
Joackim Nordberg of Sweden would win the gold, followed by Christopher Pitt of Australia taking silver and Kohne winning the bronze.
In the R1 event, Beach bounced within second and third place early in the Final, but as the match wore on, he fell further behind. Jay Rivera (Atlanta, Georgia) qualified for the Finals in his World Cup debut to finish in eighth place. Martin Hall of Sweden would win gold in the event, followed by teammate Hakan Gustafsson also of Sweden for silver and Radoslav Malenovsky of Slovakia for bronze.
Tammy Delano (Rome, New York) finished in sixth place today in R2. She won a gold medal at the last World Cup in Szczecin, Poland in Falling Target; an event that will not be contested at this World Cup. Delano will also compete later this week in R3 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1. Veronika Vadovicova of Slovakia won gold in the event, setting a Finals World Record with her score of 207.5. Winning silver was Lesley Baldwin and taking bronze was Karen Butler – both of Great Britain.
Competition continues through Saturday with R4 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH2 and R8 Women’s 50m Rifle Three-Positions SH1 to be contested tomorrow. On the line for the U.S. will be new talent Barbaro Ponce (Atlanta, Georgia), and Mariah Beckham (Daleville, Alabama) making their IPC World Cup debuts; as well as Development Team member Jazmin Almlie-Ryan (Houston, Texas) in R4.
For complete results and live scoring from the IPC World Cup in Fort Benning, Georgia, please click here: http://results.sius.com/(X(1)S(2ec2m0wfcetbqyomzkxqx5jm))/Events.aspx?Championship=IPCWCFortBenning201420140603FortBenningUSA.
