Germany’s Henri Junghaenel runs away with the gold medal in the 50m rifle prone position event. This is the first Olympic Games for the 28-year-old.
With a final score of 209.5, Junghaenel set an Olympic record in the final. He was at the top of the leaderboard for the majority.
This is the third medal for Germany in Olympic shooting, as Barbara Engleder won the women’s 50m rifle 3 position event, and Monika Karsch earned silver in 25m pistol.
The excitement in the final came with three competitors remaining. Russia’s Kirill Grigoryan held a comfortable advantage over South Korea’s Kim Jong-hyun until he shot a 9.6 to give up the lead. It went to a shootout, where the South Korean fired a perfect 10.9 shot to knock Grigoryan out with the bronze.
The South Korean, nicknamed SpongeBob due to his ability to “soak up” the pressure, did just that to mount a comeback and earn the silver medal.
For Jong-hyun, this is his second Olympic medal. He also won silver in the 50m rifle 3 position competition in the 2012 London Games.
The final standings are as follows:
1. Henri Junhaenel (Germany)
2. Kim Jong-hyun (South Korea)
3. Kirill Grigoryan (Russia)
4. Sergey Kamenskiy (Russia)
5. Vitali Bubnovich (Belarus)
6. Marco De Nicolo (Italy)
7. Niccolo Campriani (Italy)
8. Attapon Uea-aree (Thailand)