China’s Yukun Liu added 1.2 points to the 50m rifle 3 positions men world record at the Baku World Cup today, totalling 467.3, with his 21-year-old compatriot Du Linshu taking silver on 466.1.
Du’s total equalled the existing world record set by the Czech Republic’s Jiri Privratsky in winning last year’s World Cup on this same Olympic Shooting Range, and was also a world junior 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 France’s Lucas Kryzs, the 2023 World Cup Final champion, turning a 0.2 deficit into a 0.4 advantage with an effort of 10.1.
The earlier 50m rifle 3 positions women final was won in dominant fashion by Germany’s Anna Janssen, who finished almost two points clear of Switzerland’s Tokyo 2020 champion Nina Christen, with China’s Han Jiayu, who last year won world 10m air rifle gold and 50m rifle 3 positions silver in Baku, earning bronze.
Liu, 27, (pictured), who will partner Du in this event at the Paris 2024 Olympics, arrived with strong credentials – he won the world junior title in this event seven years ago and took world silver in 2022 as well as earning silver at last year’s World Cup Final in Doha.
He also arrived bearing the word "LUCKY" on the legging of his shooting suit - as he told ISSF TV, to "bring luck in competition." But such was the quality of his performance that luck did not appear to come into it.
Shortly before showing off his lettering to the cameras with a wide grin, he had insisted, also with a smile: "Of course a gold medal and a world record are great, but I have not yet realised my full potential. This result is very common for me in training."
Liu led after the kneeling category on 155.4, with Du, who will also contest the 10m air rifle men 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.
"this win is really important because it’s the Olympic season," she said. "I am not officially qualified for the Olympics yet, but let’s hope I will get there."
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.