Tokyo Olympic Games team member, Alex Hoberg, held his nerve to snatch a last shot victory to capture the 10m Air Rifle gold medal at the Target Rifle Victoria State Championships Performance Series Final this afternoon.
Shooting remotely from the Wingfield Rifle Range in Adelaide, Hoberg trailed fellow South Australian Katarina Kowplos by 0.5 points going into the 24th and final shot.
Kowplos, who will shoot 50m Rifle 3 Positions at the Tokyo Olympics, fired three outstanding consecutive scores of 10.9, 10.8 and 10.8 to take a one point lead after 23 shots.
However, Kowplos opened the door to Hoberg when registering 9.2 points with her final shot while Hoberg leap-frogged to a 0.5 victory with a solid final score of 10.2.
Hoberg’s final score was 249.9, ahead of Kowplos (249.4 points) with Queensland’s Dane Sampson (227.9) taking the bronze medal.
It was Hoberg’s second consecutive victory in the 10m Air Rifle having won gold two weeks ago with a score of 249.3.
Hoberg was the third highest qualifier for the final which was headed by South Australia’s Tori Rossiter.
In the qualifying round, Rossiter broke her own Australian Open and Junior 10m Air Rifle record with a score of 631.5 – 1.1 points higher than the record she set at the Adelaide Grand Prix just two weeks ago.
However, Rossiter was unable to maintain her form in the final and was the first of eight qualifiers eliminated.
In the 50m Prone Rifle event, Sampson recorded his highest score of the Performance Series when registering 619.5 points to capture the gold medal.
Sampson defeated Victorians Daniel Croatto (617.3) and Elise Collier (616.4).
Collier, who will contest the women’s 10m Air Rifle at the Tokyo Olympic Games, was within 0.1 points of Sampson going into the sixth and final series.
Sampson and Croatto both registered scores of 103.9, while Collier slipped to the bronze medal podium place with 100.9 points.
Tomorrow will see the 50m Rifle 3 Position event held, commencing at 9am (Victorian time).
