Baku 2015: Italy's golden couple dazzle in mixed rifle event

The Italian couple triumphed over Danish pair Stine Nielsen and Steffen Olsen in the mixed team 10m air rifle final, while Russia beat Serbia to bronze.

Last week at Baku 2015, Campriani collected silver in the men's 10m air rifle, while Zublasing set a world finals record when striking gold in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions.

On Sunday, Campriani complained of lacking "mental energy" when failing to qualify for the men's 50m rifle 3 positions, in which he is the Olympic champion. But he found one last effort on Monday.

"How many athletes can say that they won a gold medal with their girlfriend? Not many, so that was special," Campriani  said. 

Competitors fired single-shot rounds and the pair with the highest combined score gained one point for winning a round, with gold going to the pair who reached five points first.

Denmark led 2-0 and 3-1, before Italy took the next three rounds. Denmark levelled at 4-4 before Olsen cracked in the final round, scoring only 8.6, while both Italians got 10.4 and Nielsen 10.2.

"Air rifle really isn't my event and that combined with nerves," said Olsen. "Everything was moving – I was just lucky they hit the targets."

Daria Vdovina and Sergey Kruglov of Russia beat Serbia's Andrea Arsovi and Milutin Stefanovic 5-3 in the bronze-medal match.

Italy finished the Baku 2015 shooting events with four gold medals, including the mixed team skeet, also Monday.

 

(baku2015.com)