Giovanni Cernogoraz (centre) celebrates following his gold medal in the trap event ©ISSF

Croatia's Giovanni Cernogoraz returned to the form that saw him win London 2012 Olympic gold by claiming the men's trap title on the last day of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final in Nicosia.

Cernogoraz, who was named Croatian sportsman of the year after his victory on British soil, has been in less dominant form since, finishing down in 25th at the 2014 World Championships in Granada and just 13th at this year's event in Lonato.

But he returned to his best in superb fashion at the season-closing event, beating Italian veteran Giovanni Pellielo, who followed Olympic bronze at Sydney 2000 with silver medals at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

The 45-year-old Italian has a great record in the Cypriot capital, having set a yet-to-be-beaten qualification world record mark of 125 there in 1994.

But after battling through a fiercely competitive semi-final, he was unable to match his Croat rival this time around, with Cernogoraz successfully hitting his last nine targets. 

Giovanni Cernogoraz returned to the form that brought him the Olympic gold medal in London in 2012 ©Getty Images
Giovanni Cernogoraz returned to the form that brought him the Olympic gold medal in London in 2012 ©Getty Images

"The level of the competition has been very high since the very first moment, I gave everything I had and it ended well," the winner said afterwards.

“This was my last competition for this year, I’m going to take a month off now and in December and January I will start with intensive athletic training.

"In the end of January, then, I will go back to shooting again.”

Another veteran of the event, Russia's 40-year-old Athens 2004 gold medallist Alexey Alipov, won bronze after winning a titanic shoot-off with Italy's Massimo Fabbrizi after both men concluded the regular round with 15 hits out of 15 targets.

Both men hit 22 successful shots before the Italian narrowly missed with his 23rd.

The competition brought to an end six days of action at the Nicosia Olympic Shooting Center, with focus now turning towards preparations for next year's OIympic Games.



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