Derrick Scott Mein clinches men's trap world crown as USA, Great Britain, Chinese Taipei and India take Paris 2024 quota spots
American trap shooter hits 33 of 34 targets in the final, winning on the Golden Hit rule as his country claimed one of the four quota spots for the next Olympic Games.
Shooting
USA's Derrick Scott Mein came through a nerve-wracking ranking match shoot-off before going on to clinch men's trap gold on Wednesday (28 September) at the 2022 ISSF World Championships Shotgun in Osijek, Croatia.
In his ranking match (semi-final round), Mein somehow missed his last three shots – but hit all five in the sudden-death tiebreak to secure his spot in the final and a qualifying quota spot at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 for USA.
He then blitzed through the final match, missing only one target in a 33–31 victory over Great Britain's Nathan Hales, who missed his last attempt with a shot to spare to end the contest early.
The final, which was interrupted in the first set by the presence of a wild fox in the woods roaming the area near where the targets were landing, saw Chinese Taipei's Yang Kun-pi win bronze, with the Indian youngster Bhowneesh Mendiratta, competing in his first senior World Championships, finishing fourth after being eliminated first in the final.
Yang had only made it into the final by virtue of winning a sudden-death shoot-off in the first ranking match with France's Clement Bourgue in the ranking match on the first shoot-off target.
Great Britain, Chinese Taipei, India, and USA therefore join Czech Republic and Sweden in booking Paris 2024 quota spots in men's trap.
Earlier in qualifying, there had been a remarkable 11-way shoot-off to determine the last two of eight men who would make it to the ranking matches.