Ban Hyojin 'Olympic Qualifier New Record'... 'I am a High School Girl Sniper' [Paris Olympics]

Shooting Women's 10m Air Rifle Qualification Overall 1st Place
Total Score 634.5 Points, Breaking Previous Record of 632.9 Points
Top 8 Secures Final Round Qualification

‘High School Girl Sniper’ Ban Hyo-jin (Daegu Physical Education High School) set a new Olympic qualifying record.

Ban Hyo-jin ranked first overall in the women's 10m air rifle qualification at the Paris Olympics.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 28th (local time) at the Ch?teauroux Shooting Center in France, she ranked first overall with a score of 634.5 in the 2024 Paris Olympic women's 10m air rifle qualifying round. This is a new record surpassing the previous Olympic qualifying record of 632.9 points. She secured a spot in the finals, which is granted to the top 8 competitors.

The qualifying round, with 43 participants, was conducted by totaling 60 shots (maximum score per shot 10.9 points), and the top 8 earned the right to advance to the finals. Ban Hyo-jin ranked second with 106.2 points in the first series, then took the lead with the highest score of 106.6 points in the fourth series. She maintained first place with 105.9 points in the fifth series and finished the sixth series steadily to advance to the finals as the overall leader.

Ban Hyo-jin started the sport in July 2021 while attending Dongwon Middle School in Daegu, encouraged by a friend who was a shooting athlete. That year, she won second place in the team event at the National Youth Sports Festival, and since then, she has stood out in domestic and international competitions, eventually earning the Taegeuk mark (national team selection). Geum Ji-hyun (Gyeonggi Provincial Office), who won the mixed air rifle silver medal with Park Ha-jun (KT) the day before, placed 9th (630.9 points) and failed to advance to the finals.