Great Britain’s Matt Skelhon produced a dominant performance to break the finals world record and win his first world title on Tuesday (22 July), day four of the 2014 IPC Shooting World Championships in Suhl, Germany.<br /><br />The London 2012 Paralympic silver medallist produced a superb display to claim gold in the R6 (mixed 50m rifle prone SH1) thanks to a 3.6 point advantage over his nearest rival.<br /><br />In the R6 (mixed 50m rifle prone SH1), Skelhon qualified in first place and in the final, incredibly composed shooting saw him open up an unassailable lead by the halfway stage.<br /><br />With four competitors remaining, Skelhon’s lead stood at 2.2. By the time he entered the final round he led Sweden’s Jonas Jacobsson by 3.2 and gold was all but secured.<br /><br />“I am over the moon, I really wanted to win. I just missed out yesterday so it feels fantastic to win this today,” said the 29-year-old who won silver in Monday’s (21 July) R3 (Mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1).<br /><br />“I moaned about it a bit yesterday, but I woke this morning and just concentrated on today’s event – I wasn’t going to let this one get away.<br /><br />“It was difficult conditions out there, fairly windy, but I know I can shoot well in the wind. When it came to the final the wind dropped a bit, so that gave me even more of an advantage.”<br /><br />Determined to win in style, Skelhon fired a 10.9 with his penultimate shot, before landing a 10.3 to break his own finals world record in 209.5.<br /><br />“As soon as I got in the lead in a little bit, I just wanted to build on that,” said the new world champion.<br /><br />“When I got two points ahead, I thought I am going to have to make a massive mistake to lose this one, but I have had some problems in the past with dropping the last few shots, but this time I stayed strong and focussed throughout – it felt good.”<br /><br />Jacobsson (205.9) took silver and Israel’s Doron Shaziri (184.5) the bronze, whilst Russia landed gold in the team rankings.<br /><br />The 2014 IPC Shooting World Championships took place in Suhl, Germany, with around 250 athletes from approximately 45 countries competing on their road to Rio 2016.<br /><br />http://www.paralympic.org/suhl-2014/
