LONDON - Army Staff Sgt. Michael McPhail, a Darlington native, narrowly missed an opportunity to compete for Olympic gold Friday morning.
McPhail, 33, a first-time Olympian, shot a 595 in the qualification round of the men's 50-meter rifle prone, good for fourth place. However, so did eight other competitors.
Only the top eight may advance on to the finals. So, with three spots in the finals already locked up, McPhail and the other shooters conducted a shootoff tiebreaker for the final five. McPhail emerged from the tiebreaker with the sixth-highest score (51.3), missing the last spot in the finals by three-tenths of a point.
Sergei Martynov, 44, from Belarus went on to win gold in the event. Belgium's Lionel Cox took silver and Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia took bronze.
Martynov became just the second shooter in Olympic history to score the maximum 600 points in qualification, and he went on to score a total of 705.5 points, beating German Christian Klees' 12-year-old world record by 0.7.
McPhail, an Army shooting instructor at Fort Benning, Ga., was the highest-scoring American in the event.
McPhail, 33, a first-time Olympian, shot a 595 in the qualification round of the men's 50-meter rifle prone, good for fourth place. However, so did eight other competitors.
Only the top eight may advance on to the finals. So, with three spots in the finals already locked up, McPhail and the other shooters conducted a shootoff tiebreaker for the final five. McPhail emerged from the tiebreaker with the sixth-highest score (51.3), missing the last spot in the finals by three-tenths of a point.
Sergei Martynov, 44, from Belarus went on to win gold in the event. Belgium's Lionel Cox took silver and Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia took bronze.
Martynov became just the second shooter in Olympic history to score the maximum 600 points in qualification, and he went on to score a total of 705.5 points, beating German Christian Klees' 12-year-old world record by 0.7.
McPhail, an Army shooting instructor at Fort Benning, Ga., was the highest-scoring American in the event.
