Overnight, Australia’s Dane Sampson won the bronze medal in the 10m Air Rifle Men’s event at the Masped Cup in Budapest, Hungary, an international competition attracting participation from 18 countries including athletes ranked within the top 20 in the world.
Sampson shot a score of 626.1, qualifying for a place in the final where his performance was strong, shooting an average of 10.4 over the 22 shots he fired. Of his performance in the 10m Air Rifle Men’s event that captured a high level of competition, Sampson said, “The qualification was tough and I had to work pretty hard…and I had to work through a bit of a struggle which is good preparation for World Champs. The final was good and I started off great. It was close at the end but still third place is great for an international competition.”
With the event in Hungary an important part of preparation for the upcoming World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan in August, Sampson says, “It is always great to be in this environment with the [athletes] we will be competing with at World Champs. It’s a nice build up in a space that you can really just focus on the sport.”
Fellow Australian Jack Rossiter shot a score of 631.2 to also qualify for a place in the final, and with a score in the final of 165.5, finished the event in 6th place. Both Sampson and Rossiter also competed in the 50m Rifle 3 Position and 50m Rifle Prone events.
The Australian Rifle Teams World Championship preparation will now continue in Czechoslovakia, joined by team member Elise Collier. The team will train with the Czech team in Plzen before competing in the Czech Cup #3 ahead of their departure to Baku for the World Championships.
