Choo Ga-eun wins Korea’s first Asian Games gold with record shooting

Choo Ga-eun was on target for the gold medal in the women's 10-meter air pistol event at the ongoing Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Wednesday, bringing Korea its first gold of the competition.

Choo set a new Asian record with 246.3 points to win her first Asian Games gold medal in her debut at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery in Toyota, some 25 kilometers east of the main host city of Nagoya.

Shen Yijao of China was a distant second with 241.3 points, and her countrywoman Jiang Ranxin took the bronze with 221.6 points.

The previous Asian record was 245.3 points, set by Yukari Konishi of Japan in December 2017.

Choo's score was also an Asian Games record, surpassing the previous mark of 242.1 points set by Palak Gulia in 2023.

Earlier in the day, Choo set an Asian Games competition record in the qualification round with 582 points and helped Korea win silver in the team event, which awards medals based on the combined scores of three shooters for each country.

In the final, Choo came up 0.7 points shy of breaking the world record.

With eight shooters in action, the final started with 10 shots, fired in two series of five, with a 250-second time limit per series and a perfect score of 10.9.

After that, single shots were fired, with a 50-second limit per shot. After every two shots, the lowest-ranked shooter was eliminated.

Following the first series of five shots, Choo led with 51.8 points, 0.7 points ahead of Shen.

Choo maintained her lead after the next series of five shots, with 101.6 points, while Cheng Yen-Ching of Chinese Taipei was now in second place, 0.3 points behind the Korean.

During the single-shot stage, Choo kept increasing her lead, while Shen, Cheng and Jiang took turns in moving into second place.

After the 17th shot, Choo's lead over Shen grew to 3.1 points. Jiang grabbed second place over the next shot, but Choo still had a 2.5-point lead.

Following the 19th shot, with Cheng in second place, Choo held a 2.7-point lead at 194.8 to 192.1, with four shooters left standing.

With 22 shots fired, only Choo and Shen remained in the final, and the Korean held a 4.1-point lead at 225.9 to 221.8, a virtually insurmountable gap with only two shots remaining. At that point, Choo was not just chasing the gold medal, but also going after the world record of 246.9 points, set in March 2017 by Zorana Arunovic of Serbia.

Choo scored 10.6 points on her 23rd shot, bringing her total to 236.5 points. She needed 10.5 points to get Arunovic out of the record books, but settled for 9.8 points with her final shot.

It was more than enough for a comfortable victory, which made Choo the first Korean to win this event since 2010.