China’s Olympic-bound shooter Yukun Liu added 1.2 points to the men’s 50m rifle three positions world record at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, totalling 467.3 to win the gold.
The silver was won by another Olympic-bound Chinese Du Linshu with 466.1, adding to the two silver medals he won in men’s 10m air rifle and 10m air rifle mixed team events.
Du equalled the world record set by Czech Republic’s Jiri Privratsky last year at the same shooting range, and also set a junior world record.
It was a tough day for the 23-year-old Czech athlete, who lost bronze after scoring 9.5 on his final shot, with Lucas Kryzs of France, the 2023 World Cup Final Champion, turning a 0.2 deficit into a 0.4 advantage with an effort of 10.1.
The women’s 50m rifle three positions final was won in dominant fashion by Germany’s Anna Janssen, who finished almost two points clear of Switzerland’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion Nina Christen, with China’s Han Jiayu, who set a world record of 636.3 in women’s 10m air rifle a few days back, taking the bronze. This was the third medal of the competition for Han who also won the bronze in 10m air rifle and silver in the 10m air rifle mixed team with Du.
Liu, 27, who will join Du in this event at the Paris Olympics, arrived with strong credentials – he won the junior world title in this event seven years ago and took silver in 2022 World Championship as well as earning silver at last year’s World Cup Final in Doha.
The elder of the two Chinese finalists led after the kneeling category on 155.4, with Du, who will also contest the 10m air rifle in Paris, on 154.8, but the younger man responded in the prone section to take over at the top on 313.2, with Liu on 312.
At that point third place was occupied by Finland’s Aleksi Leppa on 310.4, 0.1 ahead of Kryzs.
Once the standing eliminations began, however, Liu took a grip on the proceedings that he never looked like relinquishing.
Kryzs had earned his bronze the hard way, having won a shoot-off with Leppa – 10.2 to 9.9 – to reach the last four.
Hungary’s Istvan Peni was sixth, ahead of Croatia’s Tokyo 2020 finalist Miran Maricic and Jack Rossiter of Australia.
Janssen is currently world No.1 in the 10m air rifle women having won gold at the Cairo World Cup in January and then secured an Olympic quota place by earning the European title.
But she underlined the breadth of her talent today in impressive fashion.
The 22-year-old from the Kevelaer shooting club established a big lead in the opening kneeling category, totalling 158.9, with her Swiss rival second on 156.1, and widened the gap after the prone category, when she led by 315.3 to 312.1.
Christen edged closer to the leader throughout the standing elimination rounds, but was still 1.5 points adrift after the penultimate shots, which saw Han setting for bronze, 1.6 points behind the Swiss athlete.
Janssen finished in style with a 10.6 that saw her total 467.2, with Christen’s 10.2 bringing up a final total of 465.3.
Just as she had in Monday’s 10m air rifle women final, Britain’s Seonaid McIntosh finished one place off the podium, with Denmark’s Rikke Ibsen placing fifth.
The Republic of Korea’s Asian champion Lee Eunseo, the top qualifier for the final, was sixth, ahead of Austria’s Nadine Ungerank and Yesugen Oynbat of Mongolia.
Lee was one of four athletes to score 593 points in qualifying, where top place went to Poland’s Julia Pietrowski, who scored 595 points – just one off Jenny Stene of Norway’s 2022 world record.
But Pietrowski, who has already earned an Olympic quota place, was not eligible to contest the final as she was seeking Ranking Points Only (RPO).
This World Cup will conclude on Saturday (May 11) with two more 50m rifle 3 positions finals, and there will also be repeat performances in the 25m pistol women tomorrow and 25m rapid fire pistol men on Saturday.
The schedule in Baku has been expanded to fit in these extra competitions to ensure athletes in these events have the same number of opportunities as those in other events to earn Olympic Qualification ranking points.