Paris, Jul 29
Chinese marksman Sheng Lihao claimed the Paris Olympic title in the men’s 10m air rifle event on Monday, adding to his victory in the 10m air rifle mixed team event along with Huang Yuting.Sheng, the silver medalist from Tokyo, set an Olympic record with a score of 252.2 points, upgrading his medal to gold at the Chateauroux Shooting Center.”I’m quite satisfied with my performance at the Paris Olympics. As you could see, I encountered some difficulties during the competitions, but I managed to hold myself together and complete them,” Sheng said.Victor Lindgren of Sweden came from behind to eliminate Miran Maricic of Croatia by 0.5 points hrough the second shot of the penultimate series, scoring 10.6 to Maricic’s 9.9. Lindgren claimed the silver medal with 251.4 points.”I’m really satisfied with my performance. It’s an Olympic final and we all know what it is and how hard it is to shoot,” said Maricic, who spoke about having a big relief seeing himself among the top three.”I didn’t have a good day so that 9.9 didn’t surprise me, but I’m really happy to win a bronze in the end.”Despite finishing first in Sunday’s qualification round, the 19-year-old Sheng was not at his best, scoring 631.7 points, which is 6.2 points lower than his own world record.
However, he responded with a strong start in the final and dominated after three series in the elimination stage. Two perfect 10.9 shots gave him a 2-point advantage over second-placed Arjun Babuta of India.
Although Sheng’s lead diminished to 0.6 points before the final series against Lindgren due to two sub-10 shots, he managed a 10.5 and a 10.6 to secure his victory.”I could feel that I wasn’t in the best condition, but I concentrated well, identified problems, and solved them. Although the results weren’t perfect, I’m happy I persisted and successfully completed the competition,” Sheng explained. This is the third shooting gold for China at Paris 2024 from five events. Earlier on Monday, Huang Yuting won a silver medal in the women’s 10m air rifle.
