BISLEY, England — For the first time in the history of the ICFRA F-Class World Championships, one nation walked off the range with every individual medal.
Brandon Zwahr won the gold and the title of 2026 F-Class World Champion. Matt Basalla finished second for silver and Emil Kovan claimed bronze. All three shoot for the United States F-Class Open Rifle Team, which competing against 211 F-Open shooters representing 18 countries at historic Bisley in Surrey, England.
Americans filled out much of the leaderboard behind them. Doug Skogman placed fifth, Erik Cortina ninth, Norman Harrold 12th and Peter Johns 14th.
Conditions at Bisley bore no resemblance to what international competitors have learned to expect from an English August. Most shooters arrive braced for mid-70s temperatures and steady rain. Instead, they found a range that had gone 150 days without measurable precipitation—a local record—with daily highs climbing from the mid-90s past the century mark and mirage that punished anyone reading the wind a half-beat late.
“It was hot, 95 degrees and dry,” Team Captain Dan Bramley wrote in his captain’s report. Winds ran between four and 16 mph on most days.
Two team jerseys held up by teammates in the squad’s photos from Bisley bear the names of Keith Weil and Dave Gosnell. Both men earned places on the U.S. F-Class Open Rifle Team, and both died before they could shoot at Bisley. Each was among the best long-range shooters in the world, and each was missed on the line every day of the championship.
“Dave and Keith were good friends,” said past NRA President and NRA F-Class High Power Rifle Committee Chairman John C. Sigler. “Keith was a member of my home club, and I had the pleasure of shooting with both of them at the Worlds in Canada in 2017 and the World's in South Africa in 2023. I’m glad the team remembered and honored their memories in this manner.”
The American squad landed in London on Aug. 1 and traveled straight to Bisley, where every shooter, rifle and round of ammunition arrived intact. Competitors used the British Open as a shakedown match, a chance to confirm zeros and shake off the jet lag before the championship proper. Jason Cohen led the Americans there with a second-place finish, followed by Johns in fourth, Zwahr in fifth, Cortina in sixth and Basalla in 10th. In the British Open’s 16-man international team match, the United States took gold.
Tragedy interrupted the opening day of the individual world championship when an Italian competitor suffered a heart attack on the range. Match officials canceled the remainder of the day’s shooting out of respect for the Italian team. Competition resumed on day two and ran to its conclusion without further incident.
Individual honors matter at a world championship, but the team matches are the reason nations spend four years building a roster.
Day one of the 16-man team match opened into rapidly shifting winds of six to 10 mph. This kind of switchy, low-velocity condition gives wind coaches little to work with. American shooters dropped 11 points at 800 yards, 29 at 900 and 40 at 1,000, finishing the day 25 points behind a South African team the U.S. had beaten on South African soil three years earlier to win the 2023 world title.
“This deficit was a tough pill to swallow but a number we felt confident we could make up,” Bramley said.
Day two brought calm air to the 800- and 900-yard lines, which sounds like a gift but is more like a trap. Calm conditions compress the field and leave a trailing team no room to gain ground. Americans dropped a single point at 800 and 10 at 900, then turned in the best 1,000-yard performance of any team in the match, giving up 27—closing the gap but not the deficit. South Africa finished at 3500 to take gold, with the United States at 3482 for silver.
“I am extremely proud of my shooters,” Bramley said. “The Brits, Australians, South Africans and all the others knew we were there. Our individual shooters led the way, but we fell short of our team goal. We very much wanted to repeat as World Champions, but it just wasn’t in the cards this year. We’ll see what happens in 2030 in Australia.”
Bramley’s cycle began in September 2023, when team members re-elected him captain. Open tryouts at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, New Mexico, drew a wide field that leadership narrowed to 30 shooters before the demands of a world championship campaign trimmed the roster to 24. Squad members practiced twice at Whittington and again after every National and Southwest National event, while team leadership secured sponsorship agreements with Nightforce Optics and Capstone Precision Group, which distributes Berger, Lapua and Vihtavuori. Clothing, rain gear, front rests, rear bags and all match and practice fees came out of team resources.
“By far this was the best group of shooters I have ever had the pleasure of leading,” Bramley said. “All of the guys, and one woman, were the best shooters in the United States and every one of them carried themselves with the utmost respect and professionalism.”
Team members took nominations for the next captaincy once the championship concluded. David Christian was nominated and elected unanimously by the current roster to lead the 2030 cycle.
Australia hosts the next ICFRA F-Class World Championships in 2030. The U.S. will host the 2034 edition of the tournament, which will be contested at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix.
Special thanks to John C. Sigler for his help with this article. A past president of the National Rifle Association of America, he currently serves as chairman of the NRA F-Class High Power Rifle Committee. He was a member of the United States F-Class Open Rifle Team from 2015 through 2023 (including the 2023 world champion squad) and holds International Distinguished Rifleman’s Badge No. 67.
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