ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Team Federal’s Derrick Mein needed Tolga Tuncer to flinch. The Turkish shooter never did.
On Saturday at the Asanov Shooting Club, Mein—a two-time Olympian—stood one target behind the leader with his hands on a new shotgun. He climbed from sixth place by running 19 straight. Tuncer answered every move. When the final stretch arrived, Tuncer closed his last five clean to set a world record and leave Mein with the silver medal at the 2026 ISSF World Cup Shotgun.
The final tally read 29 to 28. Only one target down, it’s the best World Cup result of Mein’s career.
“First time making a world level final with the new shotgun, it’s good to be back and out there competing for the win,” he said.
Mein, a Kansas native, slipped on the second-to-last target—a small miss that becomes a large one when your competition refuses to give anything back. Tuncer’s perfect close locked in both the gold and a new world record.
For Mein, the math reads a little differently. He came to Almaty searching for rhythm with a new setup. He leaves with a silver medal, a men’s trap final appearance and the kind of week that tends to compound into bigger ones.
“It’s good to kick the season off like this, build some momentum for the summer and hopefully I’ll be in Lonato and do the same,” Mein said.
He was not the only American in Kazakhstan. Mein paired with Ava-Elizabeth Downs in the Mixed Trap event, where the duo finished 14th in a 31-team field. Opening ceremonies ran May 3 and the competition wrapped on May 10.
Full results are posted on the ISSF website.
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