Oh Ye-jin wins women's 10m air pistol gold with new Olympic record

Olympic Sports

Published: 28 Jul. 2024, 19:39 Updated: 28 Jul. 2024, 22:14

Oh Ye-jin wins women's 10m air pistol gold with new Olympic record

Korea's Kim Ye-ji, left, and Oh Ye-jin celebrate after taking silver and gold, respectively, in the women's 10-meter air pistol at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Korea's Oh Ye-jin won gold in the women's 10-meter air pistol at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday, scoring 243.2 points to etch a new Olympic record on her Games debut.

The 19-year-old took the top spot on the podium after narrowly edging out teammate Kim Ye-ji, who finished with silver.

Oh Ye-jin celebrates with her coach after winning gold in the women's 10-meter air pistol at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. [EPA/YONHAP]

Oh and Kim raised a shared Korean flag following their final two shots, with India's Manu Bhaker coming in third.

It was a done deal for Korea by the last round, the two sport shooters guaranteeing Korea both gold and silver. But Oh took the crown, cruising to victory with two shots worth at least 10 points — 10 and 10.6 — while Kim fell behind with a 9.7 and 9.8.

Kim, 31, finished with a score of 241.3 — which would have also been a new Olympic record had it not been for Oh's victory.

Korea's Kim Ye-ji competes in the final round of the women's 10-meter air pistol at the Paris Olympics on Sunday. [YONHAP]

The standing Olympic record was 240.3 points, set by the Russian Olympic Committee's Vitalina Batsarashkina in Tokyo in 2021.

Bhaker ended with a score of 221.7, missing out on a place in the final shootout by 0.1 points. Kim made the cut with a score of 221.8, with Oh readying her last two shots with a 0.8-point lead.

The three medalists emerged as clear frontrunners, with Bhaker guaranteeing her spot on the podium by a 2.4-point margin.

It was Korea's second gold medal of this year's Games, after Oh Sang-uk's men's sabre victory the day before.

Oh Ye-jin, left, wipes away tears after winning the women's 10-meter air pistol contest at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Paris on Sunday. [EPA/YONHAP]

And it was the Korean squad's first gold medal in shooting at the Paris Games. China won both the 10-meter air rifle mixed and men's 10-meter air pistol events.

Sport shooting is so far Korea's most successful sport at this year's Olympics, with one gold and two silver medals by the end of day two as of press time.

Park Ha-jun and Keum Ji-hyeon won Korea's first medal in Paris, settling for silver in the mixed air rifle event on Saturday.

Lee Won-ho narrowly missed out on a podium spot after coming fourth in the men's 10-meter air pistol early Sunday.

Sixteen athletes are representing Korea across the sport shooting's 15 competitions.

Not only is Korea’s sport shooting team one of the delegation's biggest squads in Paris, it also has one of the biggest age gaps. Its oldest member, Lee Bo-na, made her Olympic debut in 2004, three years before its youngest member, Ban Hyo-jin, was born.

Ban on Sunday set a new Olympic record in the women's 10-meter air rifle qualification round, scoring 634.5 points. The previous record was 632.9 points in the qualification round at the Tokyo Olympics. She will have a shot to bag her first Olympic medal in the final on Monday.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]