Sheng Lihao earns men's 10m air rifle bronze at World Cup in Munich

Olympic champion Sheng Lihao of China earned the bronze medal in the men's 10-meter air rifle event at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Munich, Germany, on Thursday, pocketing his second World Cup medal of the 2025 season.

Sheng, who won gold at the Lima leg in April, delivered a solid performance in the qualification round with a total of 635.3 points, leading the field into the final.

In the final, however, Russian shooter Ilia Marsov surged ahead with an impressive 106.9 points after 10 shots, 1.5 points ahead of Sheng, who was then overtaken by Norway's Jon-Hermann Hegg after the two following shots in the elimination stage. Despite the Paris winner's best effort to come back, he had to settle for third place with 230.2 points, 0.9 points behind Hegg.

Marsov, with a 1.1-point advantage in hand before the final two shots, held his nerve to claim gold with 252.3 points overall, while Hegg bagged silver with 252.0.

In the women's 50m rifle 3 positions final, Norwegian Jeanette Hegg Duestad built an early lead after kneeling and prone positions and never looked back, winning the gold medal with 466.9 points. Emely Jaeggi of Switzerland came second with 464.8 and Sift Kaur Samra of India was third with 453.1. China's Miao Wanru finished in fifth place.

China continued to lead the medal standing with three golds and one bronze, followed by Norwary with two golds and one silver.

The World Cup will continue on Friday with the women's 10m air pistol and men's 25m rapid fire pistol golds up for grabs.