On Saturday at the Royal Artillery Barracks outside London, Italian carabiniere officer Jessica Rossi broke two world records as she won the Olympic gold medal in trap shooting.
Though the 20-year-old is young enough to compete at the junior level, her scores set new records at both junior and senior trap shooting levels. Rossi hit all 75 of her targets during the three 25-shot qualifying rounds, beating a 14-year-old world record set by Ukrainian Victoria Chuyko.
During the final round, she missed only one shot to earn a final score of 99 out of 100, beating Slovakian Zuzana Stefecekova's 2006 record of 96 out of 100. Rossi credits her missed 93rd shot to a momentary lapse in concentration when she realised she was going to win and broke into a huge grin.
Alessandra Perilli, who tied with silver medalist Stefecekova and bronze medalist Delphine Reau in the final round but lost in the shoot-out, narrowly missed winning San Marino's first ever Olympic medal.
New world champion Rossi, who is the first woman in history to win her event in every major shooting competition, hails from Crevalcore near Bologna, and dedicated her win to her fellow Emilians. Gregorio Paltrinieri, who also hails from Emilia, finished fifth in the 1500-metre freestyle swim in London the same day.
