COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (August 23, 2018)
Four years ago at the 51st International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship in Granada, Spain, the USA Shooting Team left with only two medals in Pistol, both gold and both coming from then-Junior Alex Chichkov (Temple Terrace, Florida, pictured) in Men’s Sport and Standard Pistol. Fast-forward four years and the Pistol athletes of the USA Shooting Team are showing promise within the Junior and Open ranks as they head to the 52nd ISSF World Championship August 31 – September 15 in Changwon, South Korea.
Leading the way on the Open side will be 2017 USA Shooting Male Athlete of the Year and ISSF World Finals champ Keith Sanderson (Colorado Springs, Colorado) and on the women’s side, this year’s Air Pistol National Champion and Sport Pistol silver medalist Alexis Lagan (Boulder City, Nevada). The pair have found themselves finishing just outside of Finals at World Cups in 2018. Lagan also made her Finals debut in the Air Pistol Mixed Team event at World Cup Fort Benning where she and teammate Nick Mowrer (Butte, Montana) finished in fourth place. They will once again compete at the World Championship where he and Lagan will make their World Championship debut. Mowrer’s top international finish in 2018 was when he finished in eighth place in Men’s Air Pistol at the World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Chichkov will once again return to the World Championship stage in Changwon, this time in the Open ranks in Rapid Fire, Centerfire and Standard Pistol. Sanderson will also shoot these three events.
The potential within the Junior Pistol ranks may be as strong as it’s ever been, with most team members having gotten a taste of the World Champs
