China's Wang Zifei's 2025 season ended on a high with a last shot marvel to defeat Republic of Korea's Ban Hyo-jin at the ISSF World Cup Final in Doha, Qatar for the women's 10m air rifle title.
Wang overcame the world champion with a terrific 10.8 for victory, while her teammate Han Jiayu took the bronze medal.
Qualification
In a stacked field, someone of high quality was due to miss out. In ninth was Elavenil Valarivan of India, the world bronze medallist, who missed out by just 0.2 points to the American Mary Tucker, who placed eighth. Peng Xinlu of China, the winner of the ISSF World Cup leg in Ningbo, also missed out in 10th, alongside the Qatari wild cards Almaha Mishal A B Al-Ali and Fatima Abdulla S S Al-Abdulrahman.
Making the top eight included the world and Olympic champion Ban Hyo-jin and her teammate Kwon Eun-ji, as well as the Chinese trio of in-form Wang Zifei, Han Jiayu and the returning Olympic silver medallist, Huang Yuting. Norway's newly-crowned Rifle Athlete of the Year winner Jeanette Hegg Duestad and AIN athlete Mariia Vasileva also made the cut.
Wang overcame the world champion with a terrific 10.8 for victory, while her teammate Han Jiayu took the bronze medal.
Qualification
In a stacked field, someone of high quality was due to miss out. In ninth was Elavenil Valarivan of India, the world bronze medallist, who missed out by just 0.2 points to the American Mary Tucker, who placed eighth. Peng Xinlu of China, the winner of the ISSF World Cup leg in Ningbo, also missed out in 10th, alongside the Qatari wild cards Almaha Mishal A B Al-Ali and Fatima Abdulla S S Al-Abdulrahman.
Making the top eight included the world and Olympic champion Ban Hyo-jin and her teammate Kwon Eun-ji, as well as the Chinese trio of in-form Wang Zifei, Han Jiayu and the returning Olympic silver medallist, Huang Yuting. Norway's newly-crowned Rifle Athlete of the Year winner Jeanette Hegg Duestad and AIN athlete Mariia Vasileva also made the cut.
Ban Hyo-jin delivered a strong performance through the finalThe Final
The unknown form of Huang Yuting was a major talking point coming into this final, but those early stages showed why she became an Olympic silver medallist. Her second series of five shots in the first competition stage were mostly spectacular - scoring 10.9, 10.8, 10.7, 10.5, as well as a 9.9. This gave her the lead after 10 shots ahead of Jeanette Hegg Duestad and her compatriots Wang Zifei and Han Jiayu, with Ban Hyo-jin close behind.
A gap formed behind as Mariia Vasileva dropped from first to eighth in just five shots, fighting for survival against Mary Tucker and Kwon Eun-ji. A 9.8 in the first of two elimination shots brought the American to the bottom of the table, and Vasileva's 10.6 on her second shot ensured she stayed in the competition. Kwon would increase the gap to Vasileva after those shots and did so again in the next two. The gap to the rest would still be too much for Kwon to overcome, who finished sixth.
Wang scored a rare double 10.9 in the first of her elimination shots to go to the top of the standings, trailed by Huang by 0.1 points. A small gap of 0.6 then went back to Han, with Duestad in fourth and Ban in fifth.
Two shots can change a lot. That cushion that Huang possessed back to third was quickly eradicated with her two 10.3s. It wasn't helped by everyone else performing solidly. Ban moved level with her after a combined 21.5 and Han's 21.4 moved her into second, cutting Wang's lead down to 0.4.
Another 10.3 - accompanied by a 10.7 - for Huang put her in danger of elimination as the rest moved away. Ban's superb 10.8 and 10.9 took her to the top on 168.8, followed by Han's 168.6 and Wang's 168.5, who lost the lead after a mark of 10.1. Huang led Duestad by 0.6 going into the next elimination series.
The unknown form of Huang Yuting was a major talking point coming into this final, but those early stages showed why she became an Olympic silver medallist. Her second series of five shots in the first competition stage were mostly spectacular - scoring 10.9, 10.8, 10.7, 10.5, as well as a 9.9. This gave her the lead after 10 shots ahead of Jeanette Hegg Duestad and her compatriots Wang Zifei and Han Jiayu, with Ban Hyo-jin close behind.
A gap formed behind as Mariia Vasileva dropped from first to eighth in just five shots, fighting for survival against Mary Tucker and Kwon Eun-ji. A 9.8 in the first of two elimination shots brought the American to the bottom of the table, and Vasileva's 10.6 on her second shot ensured she stayed in the competition. Kwon would increase the gap to Vasileva after those shots and did so again in the next two. The gap to the rest would still be too much for Kwon to overcome, who finished sixth.
Wang scored a rare double 10.9 in the first of her elimination shots to go to the top of the standings, trailed by Huang by 0.1 points. A small gap of 0.6 then went back to Han, with Duestad in fourth and Ban in fifth.
Two shots can change a lot. That cushion that Huang possessed back to third was quickly eradicated with her two 10.3s. It wasn't helped by everyone else performing solidly. Ban moved level with her after a combined 21.5 and Han's 21.4 moved her into second, cutting Wang's lead down to 0.4.
Another 10.3 - accompanied by a 10.7 - for Huang put her in danger of elimination as the rest moved away. Ban's superb 10.8 and 10.9 took her to the top on 168.8, followed by Han's 168.6 and Wang's 168.5, who lost the lead after a mark of 10.1. Huang led Duestad by 0.6 going into the next elimination series.
Huang Run Ends, Chinese Teammates Face Double Shoot-Off, Wang Shocks Ban for Win
A dream run ended for Huang, who scored 10.1 and 10.5 in the next series. She had to rely on Duestad not pulling something special out of the bag, but the Norwegian scored 10.7s to go ahead by 0.2. Meanwhile, Ban was again the highest scorer amongst the top three with a total of 21.3, just ahead of Han's 21.2 and Wang's 20.9.
Adrift by 0.5, Duestad had shot well as Wang's lull continued. The Norwegian scored well again with a 10.6 and 10.5, but this total was matched by the Chinese youngster, sending Duestad out of the competition in fourth. Their total of 21.1 was the best of the series as Han scored 21.0 and Ban 20.9.
Half a point separated the top three and Wang had to perform well to have a chance of getting that gold. A 10.8 and 10.6 closed the gap to Han, who scored 10.7 and 10.4. Ban would score the same, meaning Wang had cut the gap to both of them by 0.3. That led to a shoot-off with her teammate, with both scoring 10.6, much to the disbelief of the crowd. A second shoot-off saw Han score 10.3 and the teenager Wang score 10.6 for the win.
0.2 separated Ban and Wang, the world gold and silver medallists. A 10.7 for Wang and 10.8 for Ban in the first shot increased that to 0.3. Wang would score 10.8 in her last shot and Ban scored 10.2 - her second-lowest score of the competition. That meant Wang would move back into the lead for the gold medal with a total of 253.4, ahead of Ban on 253.1 - a terrific debut for both athletes. For Han, it was a first World Cup Final medal in the women's 10m air rifle.
A dream run ended for Huang, who scored 10.1 and 10.5 in the next series. She had to rely on Duestad not pulling something special out of the bag, but the Norwegian scored 10.7s to go ahead by 0.2. Meanwhile, Ban was again the highest scorer amongst the top three with a total of 21.3, just ahead of Han's 21.2 and Wang's 20.9.
Adrift by 0.5, Duestad had shot well as Wang's lull continued. The Norwegian scored well again with a 10.6 and 10.5, but this total was matched by the Chinese youngster, sending Duestad out of the competition in fourth. Their total of 21.1 was the best of the series as Han scored 21.0 and Ban 20.9.
Half a point separated the top three and Wang had to perform well to have a chance of getting that gold. A 10.8 and 10.6 closed the gap to Han, who scored 10.7 and 10.4. Ban would score the same, meaning Wang had cut the gap to both of them by 0.3. That led to a shoot-off with her teammate, with both scoring 10.6, much to the disbelief of the crowd. A second shoot-off saw Han score 10.3 and the teenager Wang score 10.6 for the win.
0.2 separated Ban and Wang, the world gold and silver medallists. A 10.7 for Wang and 10.8 for Ban in the first shot increased that to 0.3. Wang would score 10.8 in her last shot and Ban scored 10.2 - her second-lowest score of the competition. That meant Wang would move back into the lead for the gold medal with a total of 253.4, ahead of Ban on 253.1 - a terrific debut for both athletes. For Han, it was a first World Cup Final medal in the women's 10m air rifle.
What the Athletes Had to Say
Wang Zifei: "I'm so happy [for the gold]. I've been in this situation in China with my teammate before [in a shoot-off] so in a way I was quite relaxed."
Ban Hyo-jin: " Last year I won the gold medal at the Olympic Games. After this year I got the gold at the World Championship, so to get a silver medal this time is a very honourable moment for me."
Han Jiayu: "This is also my first medal in the ISSF World Cup Final in air rifle. It's recognition for my hard work over the past few years. It was not very stressful or very relaxing either because it's a shoot-off. I know that Wang Zifei is a very good shooter."
All results and information from the 2025 ISSF World Cup Final can be found here.
Wang Zifei: "I'm so happy [for the gold]. I've been in this situation in China with my teammate before [in a shoot-off] so in a way I was quite relaxed."
Ban Hyo-jin: " Last year I won the gold medal at the Olympic Games. After this year I got the gold at the World Championship, so to get a silver medal this time is a very honourable moment for me."
Han Jiayu: "This is also my first medal in the ISSF World Cup Final in air rifle. It's recognition for my hard work over the past few years. It was not very stressful or very relaxing either because it's a shoot-off. I know that Wang Zifei is a very good shooter."
All results and information from the 2025 ISSF World Cup Final can be found here.