US student edges Chinese rivals to claim top spot in women's air rifle

Virginia Thrasher of the US (center) with Du Li (left) and Yi Siling, both of China, pose with their medals after the women's 10m air rifle event on Saturday at the Olympic Shooting Center in Rio de Janeiro. [Photo/Agencies]

Virginia Thrasher went through a three-week spring whirlwind, winning three NCAA titles and a spot on the United States' Olympic shooting team.

And the precocious 19-year-old closed out the summer with her biggest surprise yet.

Keeping her nerve on sport's biggest stage, Thrasher on Saturday earned the first gold medal of Rio 2016, outlasting two-time gold medalist Du Li of China to capture the women's 10m air rifle title.

"This is beyond my wildest dreams," Thrasher said. "I knew it was a realistic expectation for me to get into the finals."

Thrasher had a quick rise to the top. A figure skater growing up, she switched sports five years ago after a hunting trip with her family. Thrasher killed a deer with her first shot of her first hunting trip and has continued to hit the mark wherever she's gone.

Thrasher was not expected to be among the top five scorers - all that counts in National Collegiate Athletic Assocation competition - at shooting powerhouse West Virginia, yet she got better as the season progressed. She became the first freshman to win both NCAA rifle titles and led the Mountaineers to the team championship.

Less than a month later, Thrasher won the US Olympic Trials, earning a spot in Rio de Janeiro. She didn't flinch at the sport's brightest spotlight - or an air horn.

Although not expected to be a contender, Thrasher finished sixth in qualifying, one spot behind fellow US citizen Sarah Scherer, to make the eight-person final.

She opened the elimination finals - a new format in this year's Olympics - with a perfect 10.9 and was in the lead after Scherer became the first shooter knocked out. Thrasher stayed in the top spot as her competitors fell off, consistently hitting 10s despite a fan blowing an air horn at random times.

Thrasher entered the final with a 0.7-point lead and opened with a solid 10.5, which Du matched. She smiled after a 10.4 left a slight opening, but Du's 10.1 on her final shot sent Thrasher on a surprising trip to the podium.

"In the finals, about halfway through, it kind of became clear to me that I was in contention for a medal," Thrasher said. "But I quickly pushed that thought away and focused on breathing, just taking one shot at a time."

She pulled it off against two of the world's best rifle shooters, Du and Yi Siling, also from China.

Du won gold medals in air rifle at the 2004 Athens Games and in 3-position rifle in Beijing four years later. She also competed in the 2012 London Games and pulled off a clutch shot in the Rio final, hitting 10.9 to stay alive in the second round.

Yi took a similar path as Thrasher's, earning air rifle gold at London 2012 just three years into her international shooting career.

Thrasher stood her ground against the two Chinese shooters in the medal eliminations, hitting nothing lower than 10.4. Yi went out after a 9.8 on her final shot to earn bronze, and Thrasher finished with a cumulative score of 208 to beat Li by a point in front of a rowdy crowd.

"I heard the cheers and the horns, and it was very disturbing," Yi said. "But I just had to control myself. I also looked up and saw that Virginia and Du Li were doing well."

Thrasher finished top of the podium, and her whirlwind will wind down soon - a biomedical engineering major, she starts classes again at West Virginia on Aug 17. "I'm actually looking forward to getting back to school again," she said.

She will have a new title when she returns: Olympic champion.