Chiara Leone has won Switzerland’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympics by taking first place in the women’s 50-meter rifle three positions shooting on Friday.
Leone narrowly beat Sagen Maddalena of the United States by 1.4 points in the final. China’s Zhang Qiongyue took third place for the bronze in the event, which involves shooting while kneeling, prone, and standing.
“I knew I could win,” Leone said. “I wanted a medal. I wanted a piece of the Eiffel Tower in my hands, and winning is just — I can’t describe how I feel.”
Maddalena’s silver is the first shooting medal for the U.S. on the seventh day of competition, ending what was tied with 1988 for the country’s longest drought in the sport at a single Olympics.
“I made a couple of mistakes,” said Maddalena, who set an Olympic record in the qualifying round on Thursday. “We are all amazing shooters, but it is the pressure in finals that makes it hard to get the mind right.
I’m going to take this, learn from it, keep working on my head space and enjoy the ride.”
Leone, 26, scored 464.4, breaking the Olympic record of 463.9 set by fellow Swiss shooter Nina Christen at the Tokyo Games three years ago. She mentioned that she was also motivated by Audrey Gogniat’s bronze in the women’s 10-meter air rifle earlier in the week.
Now they can celebrate together.
“We will have a big party,” Leone said. “I don’t know when or where, but we will celebrate.”
