China wins the first gold medal of the 2024 Olympics in mixed team air rifle shooting

CHATEAUROUX, France (AP) — China has won the first gold medal of the Paris Olympics, but its athletes were nowhere near Paris.

The Olympic shooting range, a three-hour drive from Paris in the city of Chateauroux, was the venue for Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao to shoot for gold in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event held Saturday morning.

Huang and Sheng opened up an early four-point lead against South Korea’s Keum Jihyeon and Park Hajun in the head-to-head for the gold medal and stayed ahead from there to win 16-12.

China also won the event three years ago in Tokyo, when Yang Qian and Yang Haoran took the gold medal as team air rifle shooting made its debut on the Olympic program.

Earlier Saturday, Kazakhstan’s Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev became the first medalists of the games when they beat Germany’s Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich 17-5 for the bronze.