China’s Sheng Lihao secured his second gold of the Paris 2024 Games with a superlative display in the 10m air rifle men, where he set an Olympic record of 252.2 points in front of an appreciative crowd that included the visiting International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.
Sheng, 19, who reclaimed the world record in scoring 254.5 earlier this year, won mixed team gold on the opening day of the shooting sport programme at Chateauroux and he controlled his individual final from start to finish.
Sweden’s 21-year-old world champion Victor Lindgren overtaking Croatia’s Miran Maricic in the penultimate series to secure silver with a final total of 251.4, just 0.2 shy of the Olympic record that Sheng surpassed, set by William Shaner of the United States at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Sheng remains the youngest medallist in Olympic shooting sport history, having won silver in this event at the Tokyo 2020 Games aged 16 years and 233 days.
Lindgren reached the series that decided the bronze medallist trailing Maricic, 27, by 0.5 but moved up with two scores of 10.6 as the 2017 world junior champion produced efforts of 10.3 followed by 9.9.
Arjun Babuta of India, watched from the stands by his illustrious compatriot Abhinav Bindra, who won India's first ever individual Olympic medal when won this event at the Beijing 2008 Games, missed out on a medal by one place.
Fifth place went to Danilo Sollazzo of Italy and sixth place to Maricic’s team-mate Petar Gorsa, with Choe Daehan of the Republic of Korea finishing seventh and Argentina’s Marcelo Guttierez eighth.
Asked what comes next for him after earning his third Olympic medal and second gold, Sheng replied: “I think I can continue to improve and win more medals in the future.”
“I am quite lost at the moment, maybe because of the emotions, but I am really happy.”
Lindgren commented: “It is incredible. I can’t believe it because it has been a hard training season so I had to try some new things and be calm. Everything paid off so I am so happy.
“I started off a bit low and I had some issues with the rifle coming around my body, but I had some rest and could calm down. It was incredible after that. The atmosphere was getting bigger and bigger. All the noise, all the pressure, everything. It was great.”
Maricic said he felt “amazing”, adding: “This is my dream come true. I have worked so hard for this Olympics medal. Just looking at all these other shooters here who are shooting at an amazing level, being able to win a bronze medal… I am a bit emotional now… it’s a big thing for me.
“I began in 2008 so after 16 years of shooting, to win an Olympics medal is amazing.”