Korea's Yang Ji-in wins women's 25-meter pistol gold in shoot-off

Yang, 21, missed just one of her final five shots, confidently edging out France's Camille Jedrzejewski for the victory.

Korea's Yang Ji-in competes in the women's 25-meter pistol final at the Paris Olympics Saturday in Chateauroux, France. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korean sport shooter Yang Ji-in took gold in the women’s 25-meter pistol contest at the Paris Olympics Saturday, scoring 37 points and winning in a shoot-off.

Yang, 21, missed just one of her final five shots, confidently edging out France's Camille Jedrzejewski for the victory.

Yang, the junior world record holder in the discipline, qualified for the eight-woman final with a score of 586-19x a day earlier to place sixth out of a total of 40 athletes.

Korea's Yang Ji-in waves as she is introduced before the women's 25-meter pistol final at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday in Chateauroux, France. [AP/YONHAP]

She started off strong, taking third after the first stage, ending it in first place with 13 points out of a possible 15.

She kept that momentum in the elimination round, holding off India’s Manu Bhaker and France’s Jedrzejewski by a one-point margin.

Yang guaranteed her spot on the podium as Bhaker and Hungary’s Veronika Major entered a shoot-off for third.

But Jedrzejewski had closed the gap, tying Yang before what could have been the final round and briefly took the lead, but Yang, keeping calm, held off her opponent's victory, forcing a shoot-off.

The win marked Yang's first medal at the Olympics.

Korea's Yang Ji-in, center, France's Camille Jedrezejewski and Hungary's Veronika Major celebrate after the women's 25-meter pistol final at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday in Chateauroux, France. [AP/YONHAP]

Fellow Korean sport shooter Kim Ye-ji, the women’s 25-meter pistol world record holder and one of the biggest breakout stars of the Games, had failed to make the finals, placing 27th in the qualifiers.

Yang's gold-medal victory was the latest in a string of successes for the Korean national shooting team at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Chateauroux, France.

It was Korea's fifth shooting medal at this year's Games and third gold — all won by some of the squad's youngest members, all women.

Korea's Oh Ye-jin, 19, won the first gold medal in shooting at the Games in the women's 10-meter air pistol contest and Ban Hyo-jin, 16, followed with a victory in the women's 10-meter air rifle contest a day later.

Park Ha-jun and Keum Ji-hyeon kicked off Korea's medal rush across the sport with a silver medal in the mixed team 10-meter air rifle contest, and breakout star Kim added silver alongside Oh.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]