The 26-year-old was a model of consistency throughout, taking an early advantage and never relinquishing her lead despite the efforts of South Korean Yunri Lee, who looked like the only one who could challenge her early on.

At a windswept Suhl, Zhang opened up with an impressive 3.2 and maintained her advantage after each round before finishing in style and taking the gold medal with a total score of 446.2.

Slovakia's Veronika Vadovicova took the silver 4.2 points behind, while Lee slipped back to third finishing with 431.3.

"In this event, I feel very happy to win the gold medal," said Zhang.

"The heart and stress, this is very difficult for every athlete.

"It was a very windy day, which builds the pressure, but it is the same for all athletes.

"I became a mother just after London 2012, so before this event I have only been able to train for several days, so I thought it would be difficult to get this but I am so happy."

Zhang's performance also helped China take the team gold, with a score of 1678-53x.

Meanwhile, Turkey's Cevat Karagol topped the podium in the P4 mixed 50m pistol SH1 after a close battle with Russia's Paralympic silver medallist Valeriy Ponomarenko.

Ponomarenko had taken an early lead as the Turk looked to be struggling to find his range in the wind with the lead at 2.5 at one stage.

Russian Valeriy Ponomarenko had to settle for World Championship silver in Suhl after a close battle with Cevat Karagol of Turkey ©Getty Images



South Korea's Juhee Lee was also in the mix and had looked like he was going to make the final pairing, but a disappointing 5.1 late on put him out of the reckoning leaving it down to Ponomarenko and his Turkish rival.

The Russian registered a 10.4 with his penultimate effort to trail Karagol by just 0.7 going into the final round, but Karagol held strong with his final effort, shooting an 8.2 against Ponomarenko's 6.9, to claim gold in 181.4.

"I am so happy, because the gold medal takes a lot," said Karagol.

"The wind and the sunshine effected things very much, but in the final, I just pretended and thought that I was in Turkey, so then I just concentrated and shot well."

Despite Lee taking the bronze, South Korea were able to claim another gold medal in the team ranking event, with a score of 1576-19x.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related Stories
July 2014: Leinonen claims gold by slimmest of margins at IPC Shooting World Championships
July 2014: Skelhon claims first world title with record at IPC Shooting World Championships
July 2014: Park and Jeon continue South Korean success at IPC Shooting World Championships
July 2014: South Korean claims victory with final shot on dramatic day at IPC Shooting World Championships
July 2014: Jacobsson claims 18th world title at IPC Shooting World Championships