LONDON – Swedish shooter Stefan Nilsson, competing in his first senior final, won the World Cup skeet title Saturday on the layout that will be used at the London Olympics.
Pierre Edmond Piasecki of France took the 10-meter air rifle Royal Artillery Barracks. Sergy Rikhter of Israel won the silver medal and Illia Charheika of Belarus earned the bronze. Zhu Qinan of China, the 2004 Olympic champion, finished eighth and last.
Nilsson was followed by 2000 Olympic champion Mikola Milchev of Ukraine and Beijing Olympics silver medalist Tore Brovold of Norway. Vincent Hancock of the U.S., the reigning Olympic champion, finished fourth.
All three medalists were perfect in the six-man final. Nilsson's score of 148 was one better than Milchev's. Brovold won a shootoff with Hancock 10-9 for the bronze. Brovold had won a six-way shootoff just to make the final after scoring 121.
Valeriy Shomin of Russia, the 2010 world champ, was sixth, and Ennio Falco of Italy, the 1996 Olympic champ, missed out in the shootoff for a spot in the final.
In the 10-meter air rifle, Piasecki and 19-year-old Charheika led qualifying with 598, but Piasecki scored 103.6 in the 10-shot final for the victory.
Rikhter scored a final-high 104.1 to overtake Charheika. Charheika, the European junior champion, earned his first senior World Cup medal.
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