Ukrainian Serhii Kulish takes silver at Olympic rifle shooting finals in Paris
Photo: Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
The finals of the Olympic 50 m rifle shooting competition from three positions have just wrapped up in Paris, with Ukrainian Serhii Kulish taking home the silver medal.
This information was made public through the competition's broadcast.
In total, the Ukrainian athlete earned 461.3 points.
A representative from China won the gold medal in this event, while an Indian athlete earned the bronze.
Serhii Kulish, a shooter from Ukraine, won the silver medal at the 2024 Olympic Games. He achieved this accomplishment in the rifle shooting final for the 50-meter distance, competing in three different positions.
Kulish became the first Ukrainian shooter to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in shooting. He showed the third result in the selection, and in the kneeling and standing positions, he scored 199 out of 200 points.
At the Olympic level, Kulish competed in the final round of rifle shooting from three positions at a distance of 50 meters for the second time. During the last Olympics in Tokyo, he was in contention for a medal, but unfortunately, he accidentally fired at the wrong target and ended up in eighth place.
Kulish's performance in rifle shooting from three positions
Photo: issf-sports.org
The competition format called for athletes to first complete three sets of five shots each in two positions, kneeling and prone, and then two more shots in a standing position. Afterward, the elimination shots began.
During the knee shooting, Kulish only made two out of 15 shots that weren't in the "ten" category – the ninth and 11th shots specifically.
However, while in the prone position, Kulish faced a handicap and only scored a minimum of 10.3 points. However, he secured a third place standing after scoring 10.8 points with the final shot.
After the first series of standing shots, Kulish held third place but was only 0.1 points ahead of India's Swapnil Kusale.
After the second series of shots, Kulish was generally the leader: he scored 10.9 points with the fourth shot. The Ukrainian was 2.1 points away from fourth place but only 0.1 points away from second place.
So, Kulish became the Olympic runner-up, coming in second only to China's Liu Yukun. This marked the second medal he won for Ukraine at the 2024 Games.
Bullet shooting. Rifle from three positions (50 m), final
- Liu Yukun (China) — 463.6
- Serhii Kulish (Ukraine) — 461.3
- Swapnil Kusale (India) — 451.4
For reference:
Kulish has won his second Olympic medal. In 2016, he came in second place in the 10 m air rifle shooting event at the Rio Olympics.
This is also Ukraine's second Olympic medal for rifle shooting from three positions at a 50-meter distance. Yurii Sukhorukov achieved the first one at the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Moreover, this marks Ukraine's second medal at the 2024 Olympic Games. Olha Kharlan, who won bronze in the individual saber fencing competition, earned the first one.
In Paris, Ukraine has only 140 athletes representing it in 25 different sports, the lowest number in history.
