Mountaineers rifle coach Jon Hammond did his best in his worst event.

In what is purportedly Jon’s “worst” event, he shoots a 589! Unfortunately, I cannot confirm this information, but I am almost certain that this is a PERSONAL BEST for Jon!!! Despite a rather poor start, Jon came on strong. After a dismal first string of 95, Jon only dropped six of his final 400 points for a total of 589 (95, 98, 100, 99, and 99). Without speaking with him directly, I am going to attribute the poor start on nerves, but they quickly passed.

The WVU press release follows the jump.

West Virginia University Rifle Coach Jon Hammond finished 29th in the 10m air rifle qualifier with a personal-best score of 589 at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Hammond opened competition at 9 a.m. Beijing-time.
        
Despite shooting a 95 in his first string, Hammond, representing Great Britain, recovered for his final five strings and dropped only six points (95, 98, 100, 98, 99, 99).

Prior to the qualification round, Hammond admitted on his blog, www.hammond4gold.com, that he did not dedicate “too much time” on air rifle training in hopes of scoring better in his second event, the 50m rifle prone.

“Prone is my focus and the reason that I am here, as I am not internationally competitive at the elite level in both other events,” Hammond said on his blog.

Hammond returns to the Beijing Shooting Range Hall on Aug. 15 for the men’s 50m rifle prone qualification. The event is set to begin at 9 a.m. Beijing-time.

Abhinav Bindra of India captured the gold medal with a final score of 700.5 points. The win was not only the country’s first gold medal of these Games, but also the country’s first individual title in Olympic history.

China’s Qinan Zhu took the silver medal with 699.7 points, while Henri Hakkinen of Finland finished third with 699.4 points.