2024 Olympic Games, Day 6: Men's 50m rifle 3 position final and women's qualification

Yukun Liu only set the world record in the 3x20 shooting event in May, won the qualification yesterday and today won gold at the 2024 Olympics.

The only gold medal up for grabs today at the shooting events in Châteauroux was already decided at 10.21 a.m.: China's Yukun Liu, world record holder in the 50m rifle 3 position 3x20-shot event since May this year, won against strong competition in this discipline with the considerable advantage of 2.3 points over Ukraine's Serhiy Kulish (463.6 to 461.3). The bronze medal went to India's Swapnil Kusale. The highly engaged audience in the finals hall was able to see with their own eyes the skill and speed with which the finalists converted their sporting rifles in a matter of minutes during the breaks between the different shooting positions. Presenter Shak Siyya, already familiar to many spectators at other ISSF finals, brought Maximilian Ulbrich, who had been eliminated in the preliminary competition, to the microphone to close the gap and he competently pointed out the individual passes before the next position.

Ulm-based manufacturer Carl Walther will certainly have been celebrating at home, as all three medal winners relied on rimfire rifles of the Walther KK500 flagship model, which has been the protagonist of countless international successes in recent years. The Swiss manufacturer Grünig & Elmiger was also represented several times in the finals with its R3 model.

2024 Olympic Games: men's 50m 3 position rifle, all three medal winners chose Walther's top model KK500

Collocation:	Medal:	Name:	Country:
Gold	🥇	Yukun Liu	China
Silver	🥈	Serhiy Kulish	Ukraine
Bronze	🥉	Swapnil Kusale	India

You can find the complete list of results here.

2004 Olympic Games: women's 50m 3-position rifle qualifications

In the lead, the Chinese Zhang and the American Maddalena alternated, on the edge of 9.95. The qualification was won by the USA's Maddalena Sagen with 593-45x and a new Olympic record, ahead of China's Quiongiue Zhang with 593-40x. Qualifying for the final were Switzerland's Chiara Leone with 592, Mongolia's Yesugen Oyunbat, Norway's Jeannette Duestad-Hegg, Poland's Natalia Kochaska, Austria's Nadine Ungerank and Denmark's Stephanie Laura Grundsoee, all at 589.

Europe is well represented in the women's final, which will take place tomorrow, 2 August, at 9.30 a.m. local time.

Click here for the list of results of the women's qualification.

2024 Olympic Games: ammunition for rimfire events. RWS supplies the R50 cartridge, the best for competitions

The traditional "R in the coat of arms" characterises the case base of RWS competition cartridges. The primer is located in the rim of the brass cartridge case and is ignited by a strong blow from the competition rifle's spring-loaded firing pin. The 2.6-gram soft greased lead bullets are optimised for uniform guidance in the barrel and high trajectory accuracy towards the target.

The RWS R50 is the flagship competition cartridge in .22 Long Rifle of Fürth-based ammunition manufacturer RWS, and has been for decades.

Today, rimfire rifle competitions are held with a type of ammunition that has been increasingly refined over more than a century: the .22 Long Rifle cartridge was developed in 1886. It is a rimfire cartridge in which the primer is concealed in the rim of the brass case, from which it takes its name. The mercury-free primers commonly used today were developed by the German company RWS in the 1930s. The lead bullets, rounded at the front and coated with a thin sliding layer, weigh 2.6 grams (40 grains). The muzzle velocity of match cartridges is about 330 metres per second, which is slightly less than the speed of sound. The type of cartridge is initially selected by a clamping test with the respective rifle. The final decision is made after a free-fire test, as the recoil behaviour of the rifle/cartridge combination must be as consistent as possible. Shooters can then purchase their annual requirement of "customised" competition cartridges for their sporting rifle from specialist dealers. Information is available on the RWS website, where it is also possible to book an appointment at the Fürth test range near Nuremberg, Germany.