The 16-year-old athlete Du Yuchen achieved a significant victory in her career by winning the Women's 10-meter Air Rifle World Championship title at the ISSF World Cup held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
Competition Results
Du Yuchen secured her first individual senior World Championship gold medal with a score of 254.6 points. The second place was taken by Japanese athlete Minaki Nobata with 253.3 points, and bronze was won by another Chinese shooter, Han Jiayu.
Final Stage Progression
Before the final, Du Yuchen demonstrated excellent form in the qualification round, taking the lead with 634.4 points, which allowed her to confidently advance to the medal round. However, the final proved to be a more challenging test. An initial shot scoring 9.9 placed her low in the rankings after the first stage, but she managed to respond with a series of high-scoring shots to contend for the win before the elimination stage.
As the competition progressed, Du continued to put pressure on the long-time leader Nobata. The Chinese girl took the lead closer to the end of the competition and maintained her advantage until the last shots, securing the title to the support of her home crowd.
Athletes' Comments
After her triumph, Du Yuchen shared her impressions, noting: 'It felt very calm competing at home. The conditions are excellent, the atmosphere is wonderful, and the spectators gave me huge support.'
Han Jiayu also delivered a strong performance, helping China secure a second medal at this event. Commenting on the emergence of young teammates like Du, she highly praised their technical skills and noted that training with them has been a source of motivation.
Han added: 'The young shooters are very capable, and their drive for perfection motivates me to become better too.' Future outlook is tied to the Asian Games starting in September in Aichi-Nagoya; she stated that she will focus on improving stability and maintaining composure under pressure.
