On September 11, XIAO Jiaruixuan, an undergraduate student at Fudan’s School of Journalism, won the bronze medal in the women’s 25m pistol at the 2025 ISSF World Cup in Ningbo.
Last month, she was on top of the world at the 16th Asian Shooting Championship, where she won the team gold and individual silver in the women’s 25m pistol.
She also brought her impressive performance at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, where she took home the bronze medal in the women’s 25m pistol.
During the Tokyo Olympics, Xiao(the 4th from the right) took a group photo with the shooting team.
Behind every medal lies an unimaginable intensity of training. Xiao’s routine during her preparation for competitions is nothing short of grueling. She wakes up at 6 a.m. for morning exercises, picks up her gun at 7:40 a.m., and trains until 11:30 a.m. After a short break, she resumes training from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., followed by physical training. In the evening, she continues with night training from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. “Apart from sleep, I’m basically always training,” she said.
Gradually, Xiao has developed a method to balance training and studying. Before competitions, she plans specific time slots to catch up on missed classes through taking online courses or reading course materials. And one of the first things she would do after each competition is to complete all her assignments.
Xiao’s journey with shooting began in the summer of 2015, when she was just 13 years old. She walked into a shooting range and was quickly recognized for her natural talent by a coach. Since then, she has been devoted to the sport.
A decade of shooting has taught Xiao a valuable lesson, “The more you crave success, the more you have to force yourself to stay calm, especially during tough times. It’s incredibly challenging.” In every competition now, she focuses on the specific technical actions, concentrating on the feeling of pulling the trigger and the moment of firing, to combat nervousness.
As an athlete, Xiao frequently interacts with the media and has given numerous interviews. These experiences have sparked her interest in the field of journalism. Looking to the future, she hopes she could be the one who holds a microphone and interview other outstanding athletes as a journalist.
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Writer: WANG Mengqi
Editor: LI Yijie
