PARIS, July 25 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- South Korean archer Lim Si-hyeon set a world record in the women's ranking round of the Paris Olympics on Thursday, as her Summer Games debut got off to a rousing start, Yonhap news agency reported.
Lim scored 694 out of a possible 720 points at Les Invalides in Paris, finishing first in the ranking round. Another South Korean archer, Kang Chae-young, owned the previous record of 692 points, set in June 2019.
Lim, a triple Asian Games gold medallist last fall, will be the top seed in the individual competition, which begins Tuesday with the round of 64. Lim will also represent South Korea in the mixed team event on Aug. 2.
Her partner will be the top South Korean archer in the men's ranking round, set to begin later Thursday.
The mixed team event was introduced for the first time at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, and South Korean An San became the first triple gold medallist in Olympic archery history by winning the women's individual, women's team and mixed team gold medals.
An did not make the South Korean team for Paris, and Lim will now take a crack at winning three gold medals.
In the ranking round, Lim led everyone with 48 10s and earned 21 Xs for hitting the innermost gold ring on the target.
Archers each fired 72 arrows, six arrows each over 12 ends, and Lim scored nothing but 10s and 9s until hitting an 8 with the last arrow of her 10th end.
Also in Thursday's ranking round, Nam Su-hyeon of South Korea finished second overall behind Lim with 688 points. The third member of the South Korean team, Jeon Hun-young, ranked 13th with 664 points.
With the three archers' scores combined, South Korea finished first as the team with an Olympic record score of 2,046 points, 50 points ahead of the runner-up China. South Korea will be the top seed in the women's team event on Sunday.
South Korea had set the previous Olympic record in Tokyo with 2,032 points.
The country is undefeated in the women's team event and will try to win its 10th consecutive gold medal.
South Korea has been the most successful nation in Olympic archery history, with 27 gold medals and 43 medals overall.
-- BERNAMA-YONHAP
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