Kim Ji-eun Wins Bronze in Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions

Competing in her first-ever Asian Games, Kim Ji-eun (IBK Industrial Bank of Korea) claimed a bronze medal in her debut senior international final.

Kim finished in third place with a score of 348.4 points in the final of the women's 50m rifle 3 positions at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Range in Japan on the 26th.

This marks the first time in 12 years that a South Korean athlete has won a medal in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions individual event at the Asian Games, following Jung Mi-ra, who won the silver medal at the 2014 Incheon Games.

The gold and silver medals went to China's Han Jiayu (359.0 points) and Zhang Liyuan (358.8 points).

Han Jiayu scored 359.0 points, breaking the previous Asian record of 358.2 points set by Sofiya Shulzhenko of Kazakhstan in New Delhi, India last February by 0.8 points to capture the gold medal.

Known for her fast trigger pulls, Kim maintained a leading position from the early stages of the final with bold shooting.

Shooting 103.3 points in the kneeling position to place second, just 0.1 points behind Arina Malinovskaya of Kazakhstan (103.4 points), Kim was the first to finish her shots and prepare for the prone position.

She added 103.0 points in the prone stage to maintain second place with a total of 206.3 points.

Moving to the standing position, Kim managed only 50.0 points in her first five shots, slipping to fifth place with a total of 256.3 points.

However, she bounced back by hitting all of the next five shots in the 10-ring, adding 51.3 points to climb back to fourth place with 307.6 points.

She continued her bold shooting in the elimination rounds where competitors are dropped one by one.

After shooting 10.5 points to jump to second place, she dropped back to fourth with a 9.5.

However, she fired a 10.5 on the crucial shot that decided the medals, while India's Tilottama Sen, who was in third, managed only 9.4, securing the bronze medal for Kim.

Having secured the bronze, Kim smiled after her shot.

She then shot 10.3 on her final shot, though she could not raise her ranking further.

Earlier, Kim showed great resilience by hitting 10s on her final five shots of the qualification round, finishing with 588 points (28 inner 10s) and dramatically advancing to the final in seventh place overall.

In the team event, South Korea, represented by Kim Ji-eun, Kim Bo-kyung, and Oh Se-hee, finished sixth with 1,749 points and missed out on the podium.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.