Mitas shot 56 out of 60 to take the gold medal by one shot from Eetu Kallioinen of Finland.

Azmy Mehelba of Egypt took bronze with a score of 46.

Triple Olympic gold medallist Vincent Hancock of the United States had to settle for fourth.

With his victory, Mitas also secured a quota place for Greece and Kallioinen also collected one for Finland.

"I took the quota place before the final, it was very difficult to manage it because it was my first goal, so I spoke with my coach," Mitas said.

"I tried to be calm and I forgot about the quota place when I entered the final and fought for a medal." 

To win gold, Mitas had beaten a triple Olympic champion in Hancock and last year’s world champion Mehelba. 

Mitas had led for much of the final but the tears came from the Greek team when he fired the winning shot.

"You cannot celebrate during the competition because you might lose the next target, you can celebrate only at last target but this moment was from my heart," Mitas said.

"I respect all my opponents - I know that was a very, very difficult final, but I try to be alone," Mitas added.

Hancock did collect a gold medal for the team competition run concurrently with qualification two days ago.

Christian Elliott and Dustan Taylor joined him on the podium for the United States, with silver for Greece and bronze for Italy.