Team USA's Will Shaner Wins Olympic Air Rifle Gold Medal

On Sunday, Jul. 25 at the Tokyo Olympics, Team USA's Will Shaner won the gold medal in the men's 10-meter air rifle event. Shaner, at age 20, is the second youngest athlete to win a gold medal in this event.

Ranked 21st in the world prior to the Tokyo Olympics, Shaner set an Olympic record with his gold-medal winning score of 251.6. He triumphed over a talented field of shooters in the final, including the silver and bronze medal winners from China, Sheng Lihao and Yang Haoran, along with Shaner's teammate Lucas Kozeniesky who finished in sixth place.

The NBC Olympics website has a good breakdown of the men's 10-meter air rifle final. See an excerpt below:

"Going into the last two shots, Shaner had a lead of 1.5 points over China's Sheng Lihao, at 16 even younger than Shaner. Shaner's next shot was the worst of his final so far, a 10.1. But Sheng managed only a 10.3 and gained little ground. Shaner sealed the win with a 10.2, good enough to take the win despite Sheng's 10.8."

Foreshadowing his Olympic performance in what is essentially the same event, earlier this year Shaner won a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup Croatia.

A student at the University of Kentucky and a member of the rifle team, Shaner's U.S. teammate and Kentucky teammate Mary Tucker finished sixth in air rifle on Saturday.

The next shooting events for Team USA are the air rifle mixed team event and the skeet finals.

Learn more at USAShooting.org.