Medals for GB at World Cup
Britain’s disability shooters took three gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the IPC Shooting World Cup in Germany this week.
The squad, which included Paralympians Matt Skelhon, Nathan Milgate, Deanna Coates and James Bevis, travelled to the 16th International Hessain Trophy in Bad Orb, Germany to compete against the top shooters from 26 nations. The event has its own rules for the finals, which sees only three final competitions across the event – in the P3, R5 and P1 and P2 together.
In the R2 10m air rifle standing SH1 women’s competition Paralympian Deanna Coates shot 394, equivalent to her international PB, to win the gold. She beat Schmermund Manuale, from host nation Germany, who took the silver with 393 (including 26 inner 10s) and Paralympic champion Veronicka Vadovicova, who shot 393 (including 22 inner 10s), to come third. Britain’s Karen Butler and Mandy Pankhurst were also competing and finished 9th and 12th respectively.
GB Paralympic champion Matt Skelhon added to Deanna’s gold by taking top spot in the R3 10m air rifle prone SH1 mixed. He shot a perfect 600 - equivalent to the world record - to take the gold, with Veronica Vadovicova shooting 599 (including 58 inner 10s) in second place and Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop, shooting 599 (including 54 inner 10s) to finish third. GB’s Deanna Coates (598) finished 10th, Nathan Milgate (Herne Bay, Kent) finished 29th and Mandy Pankhurst finished 51st.
The final British gold of the event went to Hereford Paralympian James Bevis, who shot a perfect 600, with 60 inner 10s to equal the world record and finish first in the R5 10 m air rifle prone SH2 mixed. He faced stiff competition from his GB teammate - Adam Fontain, who also shot a perfect 600 score, but with 58 inner 10s, to take the silver. Georgina Callingham; (599), Ryan Cockbill (597) and Rob Mcleary (592) also competed for GB finishing 9th, 15th and 30th respectively.
Kent’s Nathan Milgate shot 587 in the R1 10m air rifle standing SH1 men to win the bronze medal. Gold went to Paralympic champion Jonas Jacobson of Sweden, with his score of 595 and Neumaier Josef of Germany won silver, with his score of 594.
Other top performances from the British squad included a fourth place for Karen Butler in the R8 50m sport rifle 3x20 SH1 women and a sixth place for Nathan Milgate and eighth for Karen Butler in the R6 50m rifle 60 shot prone SH1 mixed. James Bevis followed up his gold medal, by finishing 7th in the R4 10m air rifle SH2 mixed. In the pistol shooting Britain’s Jean Guild shot 353 in the P2 10m air pistol SH1 women to finish 10th.
The GB team has travelled straight to France for their next world cup competition.