Braden Peiser earned the title of Junior World Champion in the men’s 50m rifle 3-position event at the 2024 International Shooting Sport Federation Junior World Championships in Lima, Peru, on Tuesday, October 1.
“It is a bit surreal,” Peiser said about his big win. “I have been in a lot of finals and quite a few international finals. I was enjoying this final and the chase. It was fun sitting in second or third and knowing I had some work to do.”
Peiser, hailing from San Angelo, Texas, and a 2024 Junior Olympic Champion, advanced from the men’s 50m rifle 3-position qualification ranked second on the leaderboard with a score of 588-29X.
He shot an exciting final at the 2024 ISSF Junior World Championships, besting Victor Lindgren of Sweden, the latter settling for the runner-up spot. Peiser’s final consisted of 15 shots in the kneeling position, 15 in the prone position and then 10 shots in the standing position. After the initial 10 standing shots, single-shot eliminations began. With just Peiser and Lindgren left, Peiser needed to make up .2 points to move up from second place to first. For the last shot of the final, Lindgren fired a 10.4 and Peiser a 10.7, securing his gold medal with a score of 460.3, only .1 point ahead of Lindgren with 460.2.
“Victor took his shot, and I could hear the crowd cheering. I could not see his score because I was already looking down my sights,” Peiser said about his final shot. “I knew I needed a good shot. I took it and felt confident in it. It felt like an hour until it popped up on the screen. When I saw it, I was ecstatic and happy that it was where I thought it was.”
This year’s competition in Peru marks the fifth ISSF Junior World Championships that Peiser has competed in, as well as his first individual gold medal.
Peiser’s gold medal was his third medal of the 2024 competition after earning bronze in men’s 10m air rifle and silver in men’s 10m air rifle team. This year’s three medals increased his total World Championship medal count to seven.
“This is the one that I felt the most prepared for going in and I felt like I was the most comfortable in the match and in the finals,” Peiser, who shoots for the University of Kentucky Wildcats, said.
Griffin Lake of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, shot in the final as well, walking away from the match in in sixth place. In addition, Tyler Wee of Wake Forest, North Carolina, competed in the final and took eighth place.
The U.S. is still competing in rifle, pistol and shotgun events at the 2024 Junior World Championships. As of Thursday, October 3, the U.S. has a medal count of 10. See all the medals below:
- Braden Peiser: bronze, men’s 10m air rifle
- Braden Peiser, Tyler Wee and Jacob Wisman: silver, men’s 10m air rifle team
- Katie Zaun, Emme Walrath and Kenzie Kring: silver, women’s 10m air rifle team
- Gracie Hensley: silver, women’s skeet
- Benjamin Keller: silver, men’s skeet
- Katie Zaun: bronze, women’s 50m rifle 3-position
- Jordan Sapp, Benjamin Keller and Joshua Corbin: gold, men’s skeet team
- Gracie Hensley, Fayth Layne and Madeline Corbin: bronze, women’s skeet team
- Madeline Corbin and Jordan Sapp: bronze, mixed team skeet
- Braden Peiser: gold, men’s 50m rifle 3-positions
The 2024 ISSF Junior World Championships will continue in Lima through Monday, October 7.
You can see the full results of the match at the ISSF website.
Learn more about USA Shooting at usashooting.org.
