China bagged the first gold of the Paris Olympics when Yuting Huang and Lihao Sheng, the world champions and favourites, won the 10m mixed air rifle event
Some 250km from the Eiffel Tower, at a muggy military base on the outskirts of Chateauroux, China claimed the first gold medal of the 2024. The records will show Yuting Huang and Lihao Sheng, the world champions and favourites for the 10m mixed air rifle team event, sealed victory at 11.22am.
The Korean pair of Jihyeon Keum and Hajun Park took silver. Celebrations – at least from the competitors – were muted as opposed to anything approaching euphoric.With 16 the points target for victory, China had taken a 6-2 lead after four rounds. Sheng’s accuracy was exceptional. The Korean coach, sensing this could run away from his team, called a time out. The move briefly worked, Korea taking the next round to halve the deficit.
The lead was to prove an unassailable one. Two shots, each earning 10.6 values – the highest possible is 10.9 – in the ninth round was key. At this point, China were ahead 12-6. They needed 14 rounds to secure gold, 16-12, Korea launching a late rally by moving the score from 14-8 to 14-12. France’s minister for sport, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, was among those in attendance.
Germany had edged out Norway by narrowest of margins to seal a bronze medal match berth against Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstan team of Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev enjoyed a fast start but were hauled back by Germany’s Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich. With Le in particular excelling, Kazakhstan established another lead, this time 11-5. At 10.45am, Satpayev saw Kazakhstan across the line 17-5, for the first medal of the Games.
Team GB’s Seonaid McIntosh and Michael Bargeron finished 26th out of 28 in the qualifying rounds, with both vowing to focus on their other shooting disciplines. “This was always a warm-up for us,” said Bargeron. “We planned it out weeks ago. So it was nice to get the nerves out, feel the crowd, feel the atmosphere and the heat as well. It was really great.”
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