First podium finish since 2014 Incheon Games

Gold medalist Han Jiawei breaks Asian record

Kim Ji-eun of South Korea smiles after winning the bronze medal in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions individual final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Range in Japan on Saturday. [Yonhap]
Kim Ji-eun of South Korea smiles after winning the bronze medal in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions individual final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Range in Japan on Saturday. [Yonhap]

Kim Ji-eun of the Industrial Bank of Korea claimed a bronze medal in her first Asian Games appearance, reaching the final of a senior international competition for the first time and finishing on the podium.

It is the first time a South Korean athlete has won a medal in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions individual event at the Asian Games since Jung Mi-ra took silver at the 2014 Incheon Games — a gap of 12 years.

Kim scored 348.4 points in the final of the women's 50m rifle 3 positions event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held Saturday at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Range in Japan, to finish third.

China's Han Jiawei (359.0 points) and Zhang Liyuan (358.8 points) took gold and silver, respectively.

Han's 359.0 points broke the previous Asian record of 358.2 points — set by Sofiya Shulzhenko of Kazakhstan in New Delhi, India, in February — by 0.8 points.

Known for her quick trigger, Kim shot aggressively from the start and stayed near the top of the standings throughout the final. In the kneeling position she scored 103.3 points, finishing second behind Kazakhstan's Arina Malinoskaya (103.4 points) by just 0.1 points, and was the first competitor to finish that stage before moving on to prone.

She added 103.0 points in the prone position to hold second place with a combined score of 206.3.

In the standing position, Kim managed only 50.0 points on her first five shots, dropping to fifth with a total of 256.3. She recovered by hitting all five of her next shots in the 10-point range, adding 51.3 points to climb back to fourth with 307.6.

Kim continued to shoot boldly in the elimination round, where competitors are knocked out one shot at a time. She moved up to second with a 10.5 before slipping back to fourth with a 9.5.

On the next shot, with a medal on the line, Kim hit 10.5, while Tilottama Sen of India — who had been in third — scored only 9.4, securing Kim the bronze. Kim added a 10.3 on her final shot but could not improve her position further.

Kim had earlier secured her place in the final in dramatic fashion, sinking all five of her last qualification shots in the 10-point zone to finish seventh overall with 588 points, including 28 inner tens.

In the team event, South Korea — fielding Kim Ji-eun, Kim Bo-kyung and Oh Se-hee — finished sixth with 1,749 points and did not reach the podium.


yuni@heraldcorp.com