(L-R) Andreas Loew of Germany, Josh Richmond and Qiang Pan of China pose with their medals in men's double trap at the ISSF World Cup Shotgun on June 6, 2016 in San Marino.
Josh Richmond made a statement by winning the men’s double trap gold medal Monday afternoon at the ISSF World Cup Shotgun in San Marino.
The win is Richmond’s sixth world cup gold medal, his first gold since 2012 and his first world cup medal since winning a pair of silvers in 2014. U.S. shooters have won two medals in San Marino thus far, as Richmond’s gold joins the women’s trap silver won Friday by Corey Cogdell-Unrein, the bronze medalist at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
Richmond nailed 28 clays in the semifinal round, then hit both his targets in a shoot-off against China’s Qiang Pan to earn the opportunity to shoot for gold against Germany’s Andreas Loew, who scored a perfect 30 in the semis.
The final pitted Loew, ranked No. 7 in the world, against Richmond, whose current rank of No. 15 will improve after Monday’s results. In the gold-medal match, Richmond was rock solid, hitting his first 28 targets, while Loew missed his sixth and 14th clays. Although Richmond opened the door a crack by missing his 29th target, he quickly slammed it shut by shattering the final clay to assure the victory.
Selected to the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team along with Glenn Eller, Richmond placed 16th at the London 2012 Olympic Games. He is a three-time world champion, winning his first at the junior level in 2005, then taking senior gold in 2010 and 2014.
It is anticipated that the U.S. medal haul will grow later this week with men’s and women’s skeet finals still to come. The four Americans still to compete have a combined experience of eight Olympic Games and seven Olympic medals. Current world champion Morgan Craft and five-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode will shoot women’s skeet on Thursday, while Frank Thompson and two-time defending Olympic champion Vincent Hancock will wrap things up in men’s skeet on Friday.
