2024 Lapua Monarch Cup: Marko Nikko Tops First Match Leaderboard

At the 2024 NRA Smallbore Rifle Silhouette Nationals in July, Marko Nikko won the first half of this year’s Lapua Monarch Cup.

by
posted on August 29, 2024
2024 Lapuamonarchcup 1
Marko Nikko (second from left) is congratulated by Emil Praslick (left) and Adam Braverman (right) at the 2024 NRA National Smallbore Rifle Silhouette Championship. The match, held at Ridgway Rifle Club in Ridgway, Pa., in July, served as the first leg of the 2024 Lapua Monarch Cup.
Photo courtesy of Lapua

At the 2024 NRA National Smallbore Rifle Silhouette Championship, Marko Nikko of Finland won the first match of this year’s Lapua Monarch Cup after a thrilling shoot-off. The match was held at Ridgway Rifle Club in Ridgway, Pennsylvania, July 28-30.

With an aggregate score of 107-120X, Nikko defeated Team SK’s Jake Stine, the Lapua Monarch Cup defending champion, in a shoot-off to collect the $1,000 top prize. As for Stine, he brought home $750 for his second place finish.

Lapua Monarch Cup | Ridgway Rifle Club
At the 2024 NRA Smallbore Rifle Silhouette Nationals, defending Lapua Monarch Cup Champion Jake Stine began scoring 39 against Marko Nikko’s 33. The two would continue to battle with 35 and 36 scores in the second match, respectively. Nikko flipped the script after scoring 38 to Stine’s 33 in the third match. In the end, Nikko won a tiebreaker shoot-off with a 107 LMC aggregate score. (Photos courtesy of Lapua/NASSA Silhouette)

 

The Lapua Monarch Cup is a two-leg, multi-national Smallbore Silhouette series with the winner named the North American Champion. Competitor scores are gathered from each match in their respective classification (Master, AAA, AA and A), giving all shooters an opportunity for more than $100,000 in cash and prizes.

Nikko, a Master-class competitor who was shooting Lapua’s Midas + ammunition, earned scores of 33/40 in match one, 36/40 in match two and 38/40 in match three at the 2024 NRA National Smallbore Rifle Silhouette Championship.

Smallbore Silhouette shooting is a challenging shooting discipline with competitors taking aim at steel chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams. Shooters, standing and unsupported, take aim at four banks of silhouettes placed at distances of 40, 60, 77 and 100 meters, shooting 40 targets in all. For every silhouette knocked down, a competitor will earn one point.

The second leg of the 2024 Lapua Monarch Cup will be conducted at Club Saltillo in Mexico, October 26-27.

See the full results of the match at this link.

Learn more about the Lapua Monarch Cup at nassasilhouette.org.

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