Maslennikov was forced to battle his team-mate Alexander Dryagin at the Audi Arena, as he sought to repeat his victory from Maribor last year.

The two Russian shooters went head-to-head throughout the final, with Maslennikov ultimately emerging as the winner on a score of 251 points.

Dryagin had led heading into the closing stages, but faltered to end as the silver medallist on 248.2 points.

The podium was rounded off by Croatia's Petar Gorsa, who achieved a tally of 227.

Denmark's Stine Nielsen upgraded from the silver medal she earned last year in the women's 10m rifle final.

Nielsen finished the competition with a total of 249.1, edging out silver medallist Katarzyna Komorowska.

The Polish shooter was just 0.4 behind the winner, while The Netherlands' Manon Smeets completed the medal places by scoring 226.8 for bronze.

There had been a surprise when defending champion Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia was eliminated in sixth place in the final.

Ukraine's Denys Babluik won the junior men's 10m running target gold medal, as he beat Norway's Espen Teppdalen Nordsveen 6-2 in the final.

Armenia's Hovhannes Margaryan won the bronze medal match 6-1 against Ukraine's Maksym Babushok.

Anna Kostina won the all-Russian women's junior competition, beating her team-mate Kseniia Anufrieva 6-2 to secure gold.

Darya Rozhniatovska beat her fellow Ukrainian Kristina Hilevych 6-3 to win bronze.

The Championships are due to continue tomorrow.