Colorado Springs, CO -(AmmoLand.com)- Michael Tagliapietra won gold today in the P3 (Mixed 25m Pistol SH1) event at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Shooting World Cup in Sydney, Australia.
Tagliapietra (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin) qualified for the Final in the eighth and last position with a score of 562. Once in the Final, however, Tagliapietra easily advanced to the gold medal match where he dominated top-ranked Xing Huang of China 8 – 2 to win the gold. Chao Yang of China won the bronze medal.
“Mike has qualified for every Final in that event for over a year now and has used that experience to learn how to shoot them well,” said Bob Foth, National Paralympic Coach. “Timing for his first World Cup gold medal is excellent with the Paralympic Games in Rio just one year away. I was proud of the way he battled back from a slow start, and then just crushed the field once in the Finals.”
“It’s what we’re all here for so it was good to get the job done,” Tagliapietra told IPC Shooting, going on to pay tribute to Australian shooter Ashley Adams who was killed in a quad bike accident in early 2015. “I want to dedicate this win to my good friend Ashley Adams.”
The P3 gold is a first for Tagliapietra, who earned a Paralympic quota in the event when he finished in eighth place at the IPC Shooting World Championship last year in Germany. Shaun Tichenor (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit / Brainerd, Minnesota) finished in 14th place in P3 with a score of 547.
P3 is identical in course of fire and firearm used in Women’s Sport Pistol in International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) competition. To learn more about the rest of the Paralympic Shooting events, please visit: https://www.paralympic.org/
Tagliapietra also competed in P5 (Mixed 10m Air Pistol Standard SH1) yesterday where he finished in seventh place. Len Esparza (Cupertino, California) finished in 13th place in P5 as well.
The R4 (Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1) event was also contested today at the IPC Shooting World Cup. McKenna Dahl (Arlington, Washington) finished in 28th place and Israel del Toro (Cibolo, Texas) finished in 33rd place.
Competition continues tomorrow with Finals in the R3 (Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1) and P4 (Mixed 50m Pistol SH1) events. For complete scores from the IPC Shooting World Cup in Sydney thus far, please visit: https://www.paralympic.org/
The IPC Shooting World Cup in Sydney is the penultimate Paralympic Games qualifier and runs through Saturday. The next and final opportunity to earn Paralympic Games quotas will be the World Cup in Fort Benning, Georgia November 3 – 7.
*Photos courtesy of IPC Shooting
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