London 2012 Olympic Games: Niccolò Campriani wins the gold medal and the new Olympic record in free rifle three positions 50 meters.
With an extraordinary performance, the Florentine Niccolò Campriani wins the gold medal in the free rifle three positions 50 meters, also beating the Olympic record, remaining at the top of the standings until the end followed a short distance away by the South Korean Jonghyun Kim, silver medal, and by the American Matthew Emmons, bronze medal.
For Campriani this is the second medal at the London 2012 Olympics, after the silver in the 10-meter rifle, which earned him his place in the history of Italian sport as the second Italian to win two medals in shooting disciplines in the same Olympic edition in 16 years since Roberto Di Donna's gold in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympics.
Niccolò Campriani and Marco De Nicolo, both belonging to the Fiamme Gialle sports group, participated in the qualifying races of the morning for the free rifle three positions 50 meters. Despite the good performance with the score of 1165, (ground series 394, standing series 380, kneeling series 391), Marco De Nicolo managed to finish only 15th due to the penalizing standing series that did not allow him to participate to the final race.
Spectacular instead the performance of Niccolò Campriani who closed the qualifying race of the free rifle 3 positions 50 meters with 1180, surpassing the Olympic record by 3 points (ground series 396, standing series 390, kneeling series 394) and positioning himself first. in the standings at 8 points from the second, the American and friend Matthew Emmons with 1172 points.
The advantage accumulated by Campriani in the qualifying phase already presaged a success, but in shooting never take a medal for granted, anything can happen and Niccolò competed to win, concentrated until the last shot.
The 24-year-old Florentine financier managed the pressure of the final as a phenomenon, while hitting 10 "on only three occasions", he never dropped below 9.5 except for the last, very important blow, managing the great advantage accumulated in the qualifying round ; Niccolò was thus awarded the gold medal in the free rifle 3 positions 50 meters with the final score of 1278, also winning the final Olympic record and finishing in front of the Korean Kim Jonghuyun silver medal with the score of 1272.5, and all American Emmons Matthew who on the last shot with a 7.6 lost the silver finishing with a score of 1271.3.
Niccolò Campriani has conquered everyone, his talent is now universally recognized and in London he has reached the consecration. But not only that, personal best, Olympic record and final Olympic record.
The shooting closes the Olympic trip with 3 medals, a success never achieved before that confirms the excellent work done by the athletes, the technical staff and the Italian Shooting Union.