South Korea's men's rapid-fire pistol team struck gold in both the team and individual events for the first time in 12 years, hitting target after target at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
The team of Song Jong-ho (Industrial Bank of Korea), Lee Gun-hyuk (Daegu Public Facilities Management Corporation) and Yoon Seo-young (KB Kookmin Bank) combined for 1,749 points in the 25-meter rapid-fire pistol team event at the Toyota Shooting Range in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on the 1st, beating China by nine points at 1,740. Indonesia took bronze with 1,720.
It was Korea's first Asian Games title in the team rapid-fire pistol event since the 2014 Incheon Games, when Kim Jun-hong, Jang Dae-gyu and Song Jong-ho swept the podium position. Song, a veteran who won team gold in Incheon and silver at the 2023 Hangzhou Games, claimed his second team gold 12 years after the first.
Rapid-fire pistol is considered the most dramatic of the shooting disciplines because competitors must hit their targets within tight time limits. In the qualification round, shooters fire five shots four times each within eight seconds, six seconds and four seconds, for a total of 60 shots per athlete, with scores combined over two days. Unlike standard rifle and pistol events, scores are counted only in whole numbers, such as 10 or nine, with no decimals.
The Korean team opened with 873 points on the first day of qualification, three ahead of China's 870, and held its focus through a tight chase on the second day. Song, shooting in the fifth group, built momentum with 292 points out of 300. Yoon slipped slightly with 288, but Lee delivered a commanding 296 to stretch the margin over China to nine points and secure the gold.
Before the celebration had cooled, the individual final produced drama of its own. Lee, who had qualified second with 588 points, went on to win the individual gold as well for a two-title haul at the Games. Yoon, who qualified third with 581, finished sixth. Song, fourth in qualification, ceded his place in the final to ninth-place Anish of India under a rule limiting each country to two finalists.
The rapid-fire pistol final is even more intense than qualification. Instead of a point score, each shot counts as one point if it registers 9.7 or higher and zero if it falls below. Shooters fire series of five shots within four seconds each; the seventh- and eighth-placed competitors are eliminated after the third series, and from the fourth series onward the lowest-ranked shooter leaves the firing line one at a time in a pyramid format.
Lee's path to the individual gold was nerve-wracking. Level with China's Su Lianbofan on 32 points after the eight regulation series, Lee matched him again with four points in the first shoot-off. The second shoot-off settled it. Su managed only two points, while Lee put all five shots in the center of the target for a perfect five to clinch the gold.
With that, Lee became the first Korean shooter to win two rapid-fire pistol titles at a single Games since Kim Jun-hong at the 2014 Incheon Games. Lee is the husband of Kim Ye-ji, the silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Korea's shooting team, which fired two golds in rapid-fire pistol alone on the final day, closed out the Asian Games with three golds, five silvers and four bronzes.
