China’s Liu Yukun competes with the word LUCKY emblazoned on one leg of his shooting outfit – but there was nothing lucky about the way this 27-year-old showman earned Olympic 50m rifle 3 positions gold in his first Olympic appearance.
Yukun, who broke the world record twice in two days at the Baku World Cup in May, had his flag-waving followers on their feet in the stands at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre with another masterly display in a final where Ukraine’s 31-year-old Serhiy Kulish added a second silver to the one he had won at Rio 2016 and India’s 28-year-old Swapnil Kusale took a joyful bronze.
With just three shots remaining in the standing elimination section the ebullient Chinese athlete trailed Kulish by 0.03 after managing only 9.7 to his rival’s 9.9.
But his next two shots defined his Olympic competition and his Olympian talent. While Kulish slipped to a 9.1 as the pressure told, he scored 10.2 to move into a 0.8 lead.
In the next round he achieved perfection with a 10.9, extending his lead to a more than solid 1.8 as Kulish scored 9.9, with Kusale, despite a 10.0, leaving in bronze medal position after finishing 0.5 behind the Ukrainian.
There was no extravagant final flourish for Liu as he scored 9.9, but he was able to extend his lead still further as Kulish concluded with a 9.4, reaching a winning total of 463.6 as the Ukrainian won silver on 461.3.
Despite the validity of his performance, Liu maintained afterwards that chance had played some part in his success.
“I’m very lucky because the Olympics happened at a time when I’m in a good stage (of my career),” he said. “Today I did not perform as well as I did in the World Cup. I feel like my overall control is good and my mentality is good. I was not as nervous as I was at the initial competitions.
“I just believe in myself. I have a lot of confidence. I was influenced by the audience, the cheering and the surroundings, but I tried to control my thoughts and stay focused.
“Now I can go back home to see family and friends. I will have a holiday now, and I will get some rest.”
Kulish commented: “I am overwhelmed with emotion. It is hard to describe. It was a hard competition. I just tried to concentrate hard to get the job done.
“This medal is for my family and my country.”
Kusale was also overcome with emotions after he had earned India's third bronze in the Paris 2024 shooting sport programme following the earlier successes of Manu Bhaker in the 10m air pistol women's final and the 10m air pistols mixed team event.
“I have a lot of emotions right now,” he said. “I would like to thank my parents, my family, my friends and everyone who has supported me.
“This medal means a lot. It is not a gold, but I am pleased I got a medal. To get an Olympic medal is a dream.”
The first two sections, kneeling and prone, were won by Norway’s 25-year-old European champion Jon-Hermann Hegg, who missed a medal in this event by one place at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
He led from Liu after the kneeling section with a score of 155.3 to 154, and by the end of the prone section the he was still ahead on 312.1 although his lead had been cut by his Chinese rival, who had reached 311.5, with Kulish on 311.1 and Czechia’s 23-year-old Jiri Privratsky on 311.0.
But Hegg’s star began to fall in the standing section and concluding efforts of 9.8 and 9.9 saw him make his exit in fifth place.
By then three others had departed - Serbia’s 26-year-old Lazar Kovacevic, 26, the 2023 World Cup Final silver medallist, who was the first of the eight finalists to leave and was followed by Poland’s 34-year-old Tomasz Bartnik, a Tokyo 2020 Olympian who won the world title in 2018, and then 23-year-old home athlete Lucas Kryzs, the 2023 World Cup Final champion.
In his first Olympics Privratsky, who began the year as world record holder, had the unhappy experience of finishing fourth, although his supporters were swift to mark his achievement.
He arrived in the single-shot elimination stages trailing Kusale by 2.2, and despite scoring 10.4, 10.5 and 10.3 he could not make up the difference as his Indian rival produced efforts of 10.5, 9.4 and 9.9.
The celebrations were loud and long too for Kusale...