The man with the golden gun

The final shot pierced the target at 10.6.

Sheng Lihao lowered his rifle and allowed himself a faint smile.

Seconds earlier, in the pressure cooker of Monday's men's 10-meter air rifle final at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery, he had been the familiar unsmiling shooter — calm, focused and almost expressionless. Moments later, he was waving to the crowd, returning to the quiet, endearingly boyish manner familiar to those around him.

Of his 24 shots, 19 were 10.5 or higher, including three 10.9s. As the scores flashed across the screen and the noise grew louder, his expression barely changed.

The 21-year-old scored 254.2 to defend his Asian Games title and set new continental and Asian Games records in the final, after helping China win the team gold earlier in the day with a world-record total of 1,899.0 points.

Partnering with Wang Zifei, Sheng won the 10m air rifle mixed team event on Tuesday to claim his third gold medal of the Games with another new world record.

Since emerging as a teen Olympic medalist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Sheng has become one of the central figures in Chinese men's 10m air rifle.

His transformation has not been dramatic. It has been patiently written into every shot.

In the team qualification round, Sheng completed his 60 shots in less than 35 minutes, well inside the 75-minute limit.

He was the first shooter to leave the range, but his 635.4 points put him at the top of the standings and broke his previously held continental and Asiad qualification records.

Teammates Zhang Changhong and Ma Sihan then completed their rounds, with China finishing on 1,899.0 points to win gold with a world record.

The result also carried a sense of unfinished business.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games, China won bronze in the event, when India claimed gold with a world-record performance. At the time, Sheng already had an Olympic silver medal from Tokyo, but he was still one of the younger members of the team. Three years later, he is leading the charge.

That journey started just under a decade ago, when Sheng first picked up a rifle at around 12 years old and quickly became fascinated by the sport.

He was small and slight, and holding a professional air rifle was physically demanding. His arms would ache after only a few minutes.

But his first coach, Shen Chao, remembers one thing clearly: "As soon as he stepped up to shoot, he would immediately be in the zone."

During one in-house test, Sheng shot a perfect 600 out of 600 over 60 shots. The target sheet is still kept at the training range.

In 2017, Sheng arrived at the Fangshan training base of the Jiangsu provincial shooting team. Coach Yao Ye's first impression was that he was simply "a skinny, fragile-looking little kid".

"He was still too young," Yao recalled, adding that he told Shen: "Take him back and let him grow for another two years."

More than a month of training changed that impression. Yao said Sheng is exceptionally gifted, but his progress has been built, step by step, through disciplined training and countless repetitions.

Raise the rifle. Find the sight picture. Control the breathing. Pull the trigger.

Sheng trained for several hours each morning and afternoon, firing around 350 practice shots a day in a shooting suit weighing more than 10 kilograms and holding a 5 kg rifle.

"Training in shooting is actually very repetitive and simple," Yao said. "Basically, it is about holding the rifle steady and firing. But taking something simple and doing it to the highest possible standard is extremely difficult."

Handling the pressure

At 16 years old, Sheng made his Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021. He won silver in the men's 10m air rifle, becoming the youngest medalist in Olympic shooting history.

When Paris 2024 rolled around, Sheng was no longer the naive young debutant, but a seasoned sharpshooter and Asian champion and record-holder. In the French capital, he won gold in both the individual and mixed team 10m air rifle events, adding double Olympic champion to his growing resume.

Yet his coaches did not allow the shine of his two gold medals to obscure the issues exposed during the Games.

"If you only focus on the medals and fail to see the problems, that would be very dangerous for Sheng Lihao," Yao said.

Sheng has also come to understand that shooting is, above all, a contest with himself.

"Nervousness is something you can't control," he said. "You have to try to keep your attention on the rifle, rather than on the score or worrying about failure."

When the rifle is raised, there is always some movement. The shooter has to find the right moment, settle the sights and fire decisively.

"If you hesitate, you miss the moment," Sheng said.

Yao has seen the difference over the years.

The most valuable progress, he said, is not simply reflected in Sheng's scores, but in his ability to deal with fluctuations and perform under pressure.

He used to become flustered when things went wrong. Now, he is better at maintaining his rhythm and focusing on the shot in front of him.

That may be the clearest sign that Sheng has grown from a gifted teenager into a mature elite athlete.

Away from the range, however, Sheng remains remarkably different from the intensely focused shooter seen in competition.

Fans have nicknamed him "Gan Fan Ge", or "the foodie guy", for his love of eating. Away from training, he spends time on his phone, plays games and relaxes with teammates.

At the training ground, however, he is known for his discipline and consistency.

"He is very reserved," Yao said. "When we give him some instructions, it may look as though he hasn't taken them in, but actually, he is quietly putting them into practice."

After entering Beijing Sport University, Sheng has begun taking greater responsibility for balancing training and study.

Earlier this year, an interview he gave in English to the International Shooting Sport Federation attracted attention online.

Compared with the teenager who stood on the Olympic podium in Tokyo, his appearance and manner have changed.

His hair is longer, his face has lost some of its youthful softness, and there is a greater sense of composure in his eyes.

His ambitions are also expanding beyond the 10m air rifle.

He has increasingly devoted part of his training to the 50m rifle three positions event, seeking to become a more versatile shooter.

"I feel there is no end point in training," he said.

"You just have to take every step along the way and take each shot properly, step by step.

"That's probably the most I can do."