Lee Gunhyeok takes men's 25m rapid fire pistol world crown as South Korea, Pakistan, China, Germany book Olympic quota spots

Despite a wobble in the last two rounds of the 25m rapid fire pistol world championships in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday (23 October) South Korea's Lee Gunhyeok was able to hold off France's Clement Bessaguet to become world champion... by just one point.

Both shooters were well ahead of third-placed Ghulam Mustafa Bashir, who edged out Lee's compatriot, Lee Jaekyoon, in a shoot-off for bronze.

That was after the Pakistani shooter produced two fine closing rounds in the second ranking match to put out China's Lu Zhiming.

Lee Gunhyeok, Bashir and Lu secured Paris 2024 quota places for their nations courtesy of their finishing positions with Bessaguet securing a place for France by becoming European Champion last month in Wroclaw, Poland.

With only one quota place available per nation, Christian Reitz - who lost out to Bessaguet in a shootout in the first ranking match - bagged the fourth and final quota spot for Germany.

READ MORE: How to qualify for shooting at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained

Final match up

Bessaguet made it through the first ranking match, after winning a shoot-out with Reitz when the pair finished on 14 apiece. The German went out along with Czech Republic’s Matej Rampula.

In the second ranking competition, Germany’s Florian Peter left the proceedings along with Lu.

In the medal match, there was just one point between all four athletes after 10 shots with Bessaguet the form shooter having just missed one target.

At the midway point, Lee Gunhyeok and Bessaguet shared the lead on 18 with Bashir and Lee Jaekyoon tied on 15 which meant a shoot-off would decide who advanced.

Both men made three shots first time round, but Bashir hit a perfect five to the Korean's three on the second go to progress.

Bashir was soon out and celebrating his bronze medal, as Lee Gunhyeok surged towards gold with a healthy lead of four going into the final two rounds.

Going first, Bessaguet hit three but Lee Gunhyeok made just two with the gap closing to three.

The Frenchman wasn’t giving up on adding a world title to his European crown and hit four out of five in the last round, but the Korean made the two shots he needed to take the title.

ISSF World Championships 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (RFP) men – Results

1 Lee Gunhyeok, South Korea, 31

2 Clement Bessaguet, France, 30

3 Ghulam Mustafa Bashir, Pakistan, 19

4 Lee Jaekyoon, South Korea, 15 (SO)

ISSF World Championships 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team Women – Results

1 Germany – Jolyn Beer, Lisa Mueller, Anna Janssen

2 Switzerland –Sarina Hitz, Franziska Stark, Nina Christen

3 People’s Republic of China – Zhang Qiongyue, Shi Mengyao, Miao Wanru

4 Norway – Johanna Reksten, Jenny Stene, Jeanette Hegg Duestad

ISSF World Championships 25m Pistol Team Women – Results

1 People’s Republic of China – Chen Yan, Liu Rui, Xiao Jia Ruixuan

2 India – Manu Bhaker, Rhythm Sangwan, Abhidnya Ashok Patil

3 Germany – Doreen Vennekamp, Monika Karsch, Michelle Skeries

4 Hungary – Veronika Major, Zsofia Csonka, Sara Rahel Fabian

ISSF World Championships 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team Men – Results

1 Norway – Henrik Larsen, Simon Claussen, Jon-Hermann Hegg

2 France – Michael Dhalluin, Lucas Bernard Denis Kryzs, Brian Baudouin

3 India – Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale, Niraj Kumar

4 USA – Timothy Sherry, Lucas Kozeniesky, Ivan Roe

Paris 2024 qualification process

There are 32 spots at the Paris 2024 Games on offer in Cairo – the first time a North African nation has held the event – across a fortnight of competition at the 2022 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championships Rifle/Pistol.

Eight Olympic individual disciplines have four golden tickets to be won, in addition to the battle for the podium places. The event started on Wednesday 12 October and finishes Thursday (27 October).

• 10m Air Rifle (AR) men – 4 spots – Men and Women’s individual finals were on 14 October.
• 10m Air Rifle (AR) women – 4 spots - Men and Women’s individual finals were on 14 October.
• 10m Air Pistol (AP) men – 4 spots - Men and Women’s individual finals were on 15 October
• 10m Air Pistol (AP) women – 4 spots - Men and Women’s individual finals were on 15 October
• 50m Rifle 3 Positions (R3P) women – 4 spots – Final was 21 October
• 50m Rifle 3 Positions (R3P) men - 4 spots - Final was 22 October.
• 25m Standard Pistol (SP) women – 4 spots - Final is 22 October
• 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (RFP) men – 4 spots – Final was 23 October.

Those quota places are awarded to National Olympic Committees (NOC) rather than the specific athlete.

The results from these ISSF World Championship competitions will also go towards a shooter's MQS for the 2024 Games.

Action is being streamed live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com right here.

The event follows the ISSF World Championship Shotgun in Osijek where Olympic berths were awarded in Skeet and Trap shooting. Full details and replay highlights are here.

ISSF World Championship Rifle/Pistol Cairo 2022: Elite competition schedule and start times

Medal events in bold. All times are local to Cairo, Egypt, which is two hours ahead of GMT/UTC.

Monday 24 October - Day 12 of competition

• 08:00 - 11:00 - 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Team Men Stage 1
• 08:15 - 08:50 - 50m Rifle 3 Positions Mixed Team Part 2
• 09:45 onward - Final 50m Rifle 3 Positions Mixed Team
• 11:15 - 12:45 - 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Team Men Stage 2
• 13:30 onward - Final - 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Team Men
• 15:15 - 16:00 - 50m Pistol Mixed Team Part 1
• 16:30 - 17:00 - 50m Pistol Mixed Team Part 2
• *17:45 onward - Final - 50m Pistol Mixed Team *

Tuesday 25 October - Day 13 of competition

• 09:00 - 11:00 - 25m Centre Fire Pistol Men Precision Stage
• 09:00 - 11:00 - 25m Centre Fire Pistol Women Precision Stage
• 12:00 - 13:30 - 25m Centre Fire Pistol Men Rapid Fire Stage
• 12:00 - 13:30 - 25m Centre Fire Pistol Women Precision Stage
• 13:00 - 14:30 - 300m Rifle 3 Positions Women
• 15:30 onward - Final 300m Rifle 3 Positions Team Men

Wednesday 26 October - Day 14 of competition

• 08:00 onward - Final 300m Rifle 3 Positions Team Women
• 09:15 - 10:05 - 300m Rifle Prone Men
• 10:45 - 11:35 - 300m Rifle Prone Women
• 12:45 - 14:00 - 300m Rifle 3 Positions Mixed Team Part 1
• 14:30 - 15:00 - 300m Rifle 3 Positions Mixed Team Part 2
• 15:45 onward - 300m Rifle 3 Positions Mixed Team

Thursday 27 October - Day 15 of competition

• 08:00 onward - Final 300m Rifle Prone Team Men
• 09:45 onward - Final 300m Rifle Prone Team Women
• 11:45 - 12:45 - 300m Rifle Prone Mixed Team Part 1
• 13:15 - 13:45 - 300m Rifle Prone Mixed Team Part 2
• 14:30 onward - Final - 300m Rifle Prone Mixed Team

All times are subject to change. Junior competition is also taking place. Full schedule including training times available on the ISSF website here.

How to watch the ISSF World Championship Rifle/Pistol Cairo 2022 competitions and Paris 2024 Qualifier finals

The finals which offer direct quota spots to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics are being livestreamed worldwide on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics apps for mobile and connected TV devices, with replay and highlights clips also available.

Action from across the ISSF shooting world championships is also being televised via the organiser's broadcast partners, and via the ISSF streaming and YouTube channels. Full information can be found here.