Sharp shooter shatters PB record
Gaby Ahrens holds her weapon of choice. The two time olympian shattered her personal best score at a World cup during the third event of the season in Cyprus last weekend.
The Hyundai brand-ambassador’s personal best stood at 64 before, achieved at the World Cup held in Tucson (USA) last year.
“I shot my Personal Best at the ISSF World Cup. Surely climbing up the ladder with my Krieghoff gun,” a delighted Ahrens commented after the tournament.
Unfortunately for the 34-year old two time Olympic athlete, the impressive score was a mere five shots short of qualifying her for the top 6 who battled it out in the final qualification round before the finals.
The win eventually went to Satu Makela-Nummela of Finland who edged past Russia’s Tatiana Barsuk in the gold medal match (13:12). Ahrens ended on 28th place.
Through her win, Makela-Nummela secured a Rio 2016 Olympic quota place. Makela-Nummela, a two-time Olympian currently ranked 11th in the world, had been seeking for a quota since the Rio 2016 qualification path opened at the 2014 ISSF World Championship in Granada, Spain.
“I am happy, I feel lucky. Winning a quota place for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was the goal to achieve here, and I am grateful that I finally made it”, the Finnish shooter said.
For Ahrens the World Cup was mainly aimed at preparing her for the African Championships in November in Johannesburg where she hopes to walk away with the win and thus qualify for the Games in Rio de Janeiro next year.
The only African participant to outdo the Commonwealth bronze-medallist of 2012 over the weekend was Mariem Rammah of Morocco. She scored a single point more than Ahrens during qualification ending the tournament on 21st place.
