McKenna Dahl (Arlington, Wash.) missed Tuesday’s final in the R5 mixed 10-meter air rifle prone by 0.3 points, finishing as the top American shooter during the fourth day of competition at the 2019 World Shooting Para Sport Championships in Sydney, Australia. Dahl ended the qualification round in ninth place with a score of 634.6.
Teammates Stetson Bardfield (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Jazmin Almlie (Houston, Texas) were 33rd and 65th, respectively. Bardfield scored 630.7 with Almlie posting a 614.3. The mixed 10m air rifle was won by South Korea’s Jiseok Lee by one point over 2018 world and European champion Dragan Ristic of Serbia. Italy’s Andrea Liverani took the bronze.
In Tuesday’s P4 mixed 50m free pistol, YanXiao Gong (Malibu, Calif.) was the highest American firing a 517 to place him 25th. Michael Tagliapietra (Fond du Lac, Wis.) scored 483 for 46th place, followed by Tricia Downing (Denver, Colo) in 48th place with a score of 447.
Ukraine’s Oleksii Denysiuk won the gold medal with China’s Chao Yang earning the silver and India’s 17-year-old Manish Narwal taking the bronze.
On Monday, Taylor Farmer (Castalia, Ohio) was the lone American in action, finishing 15th in the R8 women’s 50m 3-Position Rifle competition with a score of 1114. Sweden’s Anna Normann won the event with South Korea’s Yunri Lee placing second and Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop rounding out the podium.
Tuesday also marked a historic day at the World Shooting Para Sport Championships as vision impaired athletes competed for the first time. American Jim Sadecki (Burlington, Conn.) won the bronze medal in the mixed 10m air rifle prone event, while compatriot Jason Pepper (San Antonio, Texas) placed fifth. Pepper finished the qualification round in seventh place (593.3) with Sadecki qualifying in eighth (591.8).
Finland’s Timo Nystrom won the historic gold medal in the inaugural event ahead of Norway’s Daniel Waloe.
Farmer will once again be the lone American in action on Wednesday as she competes in the women’s 10m air rifle standing.
Live coverage and replays can be found at https://www.paralympic.org/sydney-2019.YanXiao Gong competes in the P4 mixed 50m free pistol on October 15