Hanoi, 11 Nov, 2026 – Vietnamese shooter Trinh Thu Vinh made history on November 10 by winning silver in the women’s 25m pistol event at the 2026 ISSF World Championships in Qatar, becoming the first Vietnamese athlete to secure qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Her remarkable performance also delivered Vietnam’s first silver medal and best-ever result at the World Shooting Championships.
The 2026 ISSF World Championships, held from November 1 to 14 in Qatar, serve as the first major qualification event for the Los Angeles Olympics. A total of 36 Olympic quota places are available across 12 individual disciplines, with the top three eligible finishers in each event earning qualification spots. Thu Vinh secured one of those places after finishing second in the women’s 25m pistol final with 43 hits, narrowly missing the gold medal following a dramatic contest against South Korea’s reigning Olympic champion Yang Ji-in.
Competing at the Lusail Shooting Range in Doha, Thu Vinh qualified for the final in seventh place with a total of 585 points, recording 288 in the precision stage and an impressive 297 in the rapid-fire stage. The Vietnamese shooter entered the medal round ranked 28th in the world in the event, facing a highly competitive field that included world number one Esha Singh of India, Olympic champion Yang Ji-in, India’s Manu Bhaker and Germany’s Doreen Vennekamp.
The final presented an additional challenge because it consisted entirely of rapid-fire shooting, eliminating the precision stage in which Thu Vinh is particularly strong. Under the competition format, athletes fired five shots per series, with each shot scoring at least 10.2 counting as one hit. Eliminations began after the fourth series, gradually reducing the field until only two shooters remained for the gold-medal contest.
Despite the demanding format and the quality of her opponents, Thu Vinh delivered an outstanding performance. She established herself among the leaders early and maintained her advantage through the elimination rounds. After seven series, the Vietnamese shooter had accumulated 31 hits, seven ahead of China’s Zhang Yueyue, guaranteeing herself a place among the top three and securing Vietnam’s first qualification spot for the 2028 Olympics.
Thu Vinh continued to lead as the final approached its decisive moments, reaching 40 hits before the last series, with Yang Ji-in just one behind. However, the South Korean star demonstrated the composure that had helped her win Olympic gold in Paris in 2024. Yang successfully hit all five targets in the final series to complete a dramatic comeback, winning 44-43 and establishing a new world record.
Although Thu Vinh briefly showed disappointment after narrowly missing the gold medal, she quickly regained her composure and congratulated Yang on her victory. The silver medal represented a significant personal breakthrough for the Vietnamese shooter, who had previously experienced the frustration of narrowly missing a medal at the 2026 Asian Games.
“I am very happy to win my first medal at the World Championships and become the first Vietnamese athlete to qualify for the 2028 Olympics,” Thu Vinh said after the final. “I faced some difficulties when I entered the competition, but I overcame them. I achieved my goal.”
Born in 2000 and representing Vietnam’s People’s Public Security sports team, Thu Vinh has established herself as one of the country’s leading shooting athletes. She previously finished fourth in the women’s 10m air pistol final at the Paris 2024 Olympics, narrowly missing a place on the podium. At the 33rd SEA Games, she claimed four gold medals across the individual and team events in the women’s 10m air pistol and 25m pistol disciplines.
Her individual silver was not Vietnam’s only medal at the World Championships. Earlier in the competition, Thu Vinh joined Nguyen Thuy Trang and Nguyen Thuy Dung to secure bronze in the women’s 25m pistol team event. The Vietnamese trio recorded a combined score of 1,745 points, finishing three points behind South Korea and 16 behind India.
After ten days of competition, China led the overall medal standings with 13 gold, six silver and seven bronze medals, followed by India with two gold, five silver and two bronze. South Korea occupied third place with two gold, four silver and three bronze, while Vietnam ranked 17th with one silver and one bronze, level on medal totals with Croatia, Ukraine and Great Britain.
Thu Vinh’s historic achievement marks an encouraging start to Vietnam’s qualification campaign for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. Beyond securing the country’s first Olympic berth, her performance against some of the world’s strongest shooters demonstrates Vietnam’s growing competitiveness in international shooting and raises hopes of another breakthrough on the Olympic stage.
VSN/RPT
Leave a Reply