The 2011 junior European champion beat the Russian 2008 Olympic bronze medallist by 16 hits to 14 in the final to pick up his first major senior international crown.

Zemlin progressed through qualifying with an impressive score of 122 before securing a shoot-out victory in the semi-final encounter alongside Terras.

The pair had shot 15 points apiece to move into a three way shoot-out with Egypt's Azmy Mehelba, who was the unfortunate loser, hitting a single target less than his opponents to drop into a battle for bronze with France's Eric Delaunay.

Zemlin proved the steadier of the two shooters in the gold-medal final as he hit every target en route to gold.

"My aim was to get into the final, I did not even think about the title and the quota place," he said.

"Everything has changed, in these three years.

"I have changed my equipment and my preparation, getting ready for this event.

"I am proud that I have won an Olympic quota for my country.

"Hopefully, we will gain a second quota next year.

"I am not automatically qualified for the Games: we will have trials within our team, and only the best will eventually fly to Rio [2016]."

Bronze was secured by Mehelba as he recorded his nation's best World Championship result since 1959.

The final senior gold of the Championships was sandwiched between two junior gold medals as Germany's Andre Link and Italy's Gabriele Rossetti took top honours in the men's 50 metre rifle 3 position and men's skeet respectively.

Link, the European champion in the discipline, edged France's Alexis Raynaud by just 0.4 points to secure the title in what proved a world record-breaking finals score of 456.1 points.

Germany's Gabriele Rossetti secured the final gold medal of the day as he took top honours in the junior skeet contest in Granada ©ISSF



Raynaud was left to settle for his second silver of the Championships, following the same result in the men's 50m rifle prone event, with Austria's Gernot Rumpler in third after a disappointing 8.0 left him out of the running for the top two positions.

Despite Raynaud's loss in the final, his result was enough to move France top in the team event as they sealed gold on 3,498 points.

Germany came in second with 3,483 points, while Switzerland rounded off the podium in third.

Two-time European Championship medallist Rossetti hit 15 targets to take gold in the junior skeet contest as Cypriot shooter Stefanos Nikolaidis fell short in the final.

Nikolaidis failed on the opening attempt to give the edge to Rossetti and, although the Italian recorded a miss on the fourth shot, a second slip up on the 12th left Nikolaidis trailing yet again.

The victory was ensured on the final shot of the final as the Cypriot missed the target again to hand the win to Rossetti.

Bronze was earned by America's Phillip Russell Jungman as he edged Germany's Felix Haase in a bronze medal shoot-out following a 15 match tie.

The team competition went the way of Italy as Rossetti's impressive scores were added to by Christian Benet and Domenico Simeone for a total of 357.

Jungman helped America on the way to silver as they amassed a total of 349, with Great Britain rounding off the podium in third.

China end the World Championships in the Spanish city top of the medals table after acquiring a massive 44 medals across the tournament, including 19 gold.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
September 2014: China's Pei Ruijiao wins junior women's title at Shooting World Championships
September 2014: Jakobsen secures fourth world title at Shooting World Championships
September 2014: Germany takes individual and team gold in junior men's 50m rifle prone at Shooting World Championships
September 2014: Drozd claims first world title with skeet gold at Shooting World Championships
September 2014: American Richmond retains double trap title at Shooting World Championships