Cuban wins shooting gold with record-setting final

London, England – Cuba's Leuris Pupo won gold in the men's 25-meter rapid fire pistol event Friday and set an Olympic shooting record in the process.

Pupo tied a world record and set an Olympic mark with a score of 34 in the final round to beat India's Vijay Kumar by four shots. Ding Feng of China won bronze with a score of 27. All three of the countries on the podium had never medaled in this event before.

The gold is the first for Cuba in Olympic shooting and is also the first major world title for Pupo, who is at his third Summer Games but had never finished better than seventh until Friday. Pupo is also the first non-European to win this event since Takeo Kamachi of Japan claimed gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

"This is my fourth Olympics and I feel overwhelmed," said Pupo.

Alexei Klimov of Russia set world and Olympic records with a score of 592 in the qualification round, but finished fourth in the final round.

Emil Milev and Keith Sanderson of the United States placed 13th and 14th, respectively.

Belarus' Sergei Martynov set a world record to win in the men's 50-meter rifle prone event earlier at the Royal Artillery Barracks on Friday. Martynov scored the maximum 600 points in qualifying, then posted a total of 105.5 points in the final to set a new world mark of 705.5.