Paris 2024 shooting: All results, as Liu Yukun wins men’s 50m rifle 3 positions gold for China
Liu Yukun held his nerves to shoot his way to gold for the People’s Republic of China in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final on Thursday at Paris 2024.
The 27-year-old had set an Qualifying Olympic Record score of 594-38x on Wednesday, and posted a world record in May when winning the Baku World Cup.
Liu therefore capped off a year to remember in Paris, scoring 463.6 to win China's 10th gold of these Olympics ahead of Ukraine’s 2022 world champion Serhiy Kulish (461.3) and India’s Swapnil Kusale (451.4).
It was always going to be a final of fine margins, with mere millimetres set to decide the podium places at Chateauroux Shooting Centre.
After the opening kneeling round of 15 shots, just three points separated all eight shooters as Norway’s Jon-Hermann Hegg, fourth in Tokyo three years ago, narrowly led on 155.3 from Liu (154.0) and Kulish (153.9).
The athletes then switched positions to prone, and Hegg was able to maintain his lead, but Liu, Kulish and world number one Jiri Privratsky all narrowed the gap as just 1.1 points separated the top four.
With the field starting to spread, the more-difficult standing round was going to see more shots outside of the 10s, and that led to a significant change in the standings.
Hegg dropped out of the medal positions, with Kulish up to first, Liu still second and Kusale jumping up to third, while 2018 world champion Tomasz Bartnik and Lazar Kovacevic were eliminated after finishing that round seventh and eighth respectively.
With eliminations after every shot thereafter, the pressure ramped up, with Lucas Bernard Denis Kryzs of France the next to go.
With five athletes remaining, Privratsky was trailing in fifth, but a 10.5 was enough to stay in the competition as Hegg’s 9.9 saw him exit the final having led for so long.
Privratsky departed immediately after with the gap too much to claw back, leaving Liu, Kulish and Kusale battling for the medal positions – Liu leading overall by 0.8 points after overtaking Kulish.
Bronze ultimately went to Kusale as a terrific 10.9 from Liu saw the Chinese shooter move 1.8 points in front of Kulish, all-but guaranteeing gold bar a big mistake.
And there was to be no final error despite the immense pressure, with Liu again outscoring Kulish in the final shot to win by a commanding 2.3 points overall.
Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final, Paris 2020
Gold: Liu Yukun, People’s Republic of China
Silver: Serhiy Kulish, Ukraine
Bronze: Swapnil Kusale, India