Olympic gold medallist Russell Mark has capped off a tumultuous week with a superb second place in the men’s double trap at the European Grand Prix in Belgrade, Serbia.

Mark, who along with wife Lauryn, had their guns lost in transit for three days on the way to Serbia earlier this week, managed to put the disrupted build-up behind him by finishing second on a score of 193 targets from a total of 200.

Mark shot an extremely impressive 144 targets from 150 in the qualifying rounds, which gave him another performance qualifying score*, further enhancing his bid to feature in his sixth Olympic Games as an athlete in London next year.

Heading into the final Mark was two targets behind Hungarian Richard Bognar and despite hitting 49 targets in the 50 shot final, Mark was unable to reel in Bognar who shot 48 to win by one target.

Mark said he was really happy with the result.

“That is probably the highest overall score I have shot in close on a decade and I am really satisfied with the performance,” Mark said. “It is not too often that you shoot 193 and not claim the win but Richard (Bognar) shot really well and full credit to him.

“It has been a pretty long week and I don’t know if what has happened helped me out or not in the end but I was able to shoot really consistently.

“Shooting this well on the range that is going to be used for the World Championships in September is also a huge confidence boost. My next aim though is to prepare for the World Cup in Slovenia in July and see what I can do there.”

Australia is yet to qualify a quota place in the men’s double trap for the 2012 London Olympic Games, but will have three more opportunities with the ISSF World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia (July 7-16), the ISSF World Championships (September 5-13) and the Oceania Championships (November 26-December 4).

The European Grand Prix will conclude this weekend with the men’s trap and women’s trap.

Olympic gold medallist Russell Mark (VIC) has capped off a tumultuous week with a superb second place in the men’s double trap at the European Grand Prix in Belgrade, Serbia.

Mark, who along with wife Lauryn, had their guns lost in transit for three days on the way to Serbia earlier this week, managed to put the disrupted build-up behind him by finishing second on a score of 193 targets from a total of 200.

Mark shot an extremely impressive 144 targets from 150 in the qualifying rounds, which gave him another performance qualifying score*, further enhancing his bid to feature in his sixth Olympic Games as an athlete in London next year.

Heading into the final Mark was two targets behind Hungarian Richard Bognar and despite hitting 49 targets in the 50 shot final, Mark was unable to reel in Bognar who shot 48 to win by one target.

Mark said he was really happy with the result.

“That is probably the highest overall score I have shot in close on a decade and I am really satisfied with the performance,” Mark said. “It is not too often that you shoot 193 and not claim the win but Richard (Bognar) shot really well and full credit to him.

“It has been a pretty long week and I don’t know if what has happened helped me out or not in the end but I was able to shoot really consistently.

“Shooting this well on the range that is going to be used for the World Championships in September is also a huge confidence boost. My next aim though is to prepare for the World Cup in Slovenia in July and see what I can do there.”

Australia is yet to qualify a quota place in the men’s double trap for the 2012 London Olympic Games, but will have three more opportunities with the ISSF World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia (July 7-16), the ISSF World Championships (September 5-13) and the Oceania Championships (November 26-December 4).

The European Grand Prix will conclude this weekend with the men’s trap and women’s trap.

Australian International Shooting Ltd