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Chiara Leone wins Switzerland’s first gold in Paris Olympics

Switzerland's Chiara Leone, right, reacts after winning the gold medal in the 50m rifle 3 positions women's final competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024, in Chateauroux, France. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup).TEST
Leone is only the second Swiss woman to win an Olympic gold medal in shooting. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved

Chiara Leone became an Olympic gold medallist in the 50m air rifle three-position match. The 26-year-old from canton Aargau, who placed third in the qualification, was among the leaders from the start of the final.

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Leone led after the kneeling position and held third place after the prone position. In the final standing shooting, the most challenging part of the competition, she advanced to the top.

+Faster, higher, stronger, Swisser: let the 2024 Olympic Games begin!

The final phase at the range in Châteauroux, around 250 kilometres south of Paris, was tense. Leone had a lead of seven-tenths over her only remaining competitor, American Sagen Maddalena, before the last shot. Leone, already a European champion in this discipline, kept her composure and scored 10.8 points, just one-tenth below the maximum.

The 26-year-old from canton Aargau, who placed third in the qualification, was among the leaders from the start of the final.
The 26-year-old from canton Aargau, who placed third in the qualification, was among the leaders from the start of the final. Keystone-SDA

Leone is only the second Swiss woman to win an Olympic gold medal in shooting. Her teammate, Nina Christen, became the first Swiss to claim a gold medal in women’s Olympic shooting at the in Tokyo in 2020.

+Switzerland wins its first medal at the Paris Olympics

This marks the eighth gold medal for the Swiss shooting delegation at the Olympics. Switzerland celebrated its first shooting medal in Paris on Monday, when Audrey Gogniat from Jura won bronze in the 10m air rifle competition, breaking the Swiss medal spell at these Games.

+Mityukov wins third medal for Switzerland at Paris Olympics

Translated from German by DeepL/amva

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