Another impressive performance marked the second final contested at the ISSF World Cup Stage 2 in Changwon (KOR), as People’s Republic of China’s Zhao Ruozhu ruled the women’s 10m Air Rifle event from the very first shot.
Competing in the first World Cup stage of her career, the 19-year-old shooter grabbed the lead with a strong opening series, scoring 52.4 points and progressively building a consistent gap between her and her main rivals: Chinese Taipei’s 18-year-old Lin Ying-Shin and Norway’s 20-year-old Jenny Stene.
Zhao — who fired all of her 24 shots inside the 10th ring — maintained the top position all along the match, eventually setting a new World Record and a new Junior World Record with 252.4 points, 1.4-point ahead of Lin, who took silver with 250.0.
Stene finally climbed on the third step of the podium: the World Cup debutant, in fact, compromized her chances to compete for the gold with a bad 9.4 on her 20th shot, then finishing with 229.1 points and the bronze medal around her neck.
Firing two disappointing 9.8 in her final two series, Wu Mingyang of the People’s Republic of China placed just outside of the podium, matching the 4th place she took in her only previous World Cup start: in New Delhi (IND) in 2017. The 21-year-old Chinese shooter concluded with 208.4 points.
Wu was followed by Singapore’s talented 18-year-old Martina Lindsay Veloso — silver medalist at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing (CHN) and World Cup gold medalist in Munich (GER) on the same year — who concluded in 5th place with 185.9 points, and by first-time World Cup participant Keum Jihyeon (18) of the Republic of Korea, who placed 6th with 163.1.
Keum’s teammate Jung Eunhea was the first athlete to be eliminated from the final: the 28-year-old took 8th place, leaving the match after shot number 12 with 120.4 points.
Two shots later it was Danish experienced shooter Stine Nielsen (27) who left the contest as she nailed her 20th World Cup start in this event and finished in 7th position with 141.0 points.
The ISSF World Cup Stage 2 in Changwon will continue tomorrow with three more finals: the 25m Pistol Women, taking place at 11:30 am (UTC+9:00), the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team, scheduled at 1:45 pm, and the Trap Women, taking place at 4:15 pm.
The competition will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel and on its official Facebook page.
Live results, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.