TargetTalk

Last week I attended the NCAA championships at Murray State and saw my first smallbore and Air Rifle Finals with the new format. The range is too small for spectators so the smallbore finals was shown on video screens in the gym. I haven't read the rules so some of my observations may be a little bit off as to times and number of shots fired.
The smallbore finals is a sprint. There isn't much time between positions and the shooter who has to make adjustments to or change the buttplate, handstop and sights is really under pressure. If I were in one, I'd want 3 buttplates already adjusted, possibly a couple of cheekpieces and maybe 2 sets of sights. If the shooter isn't able to make those adjustments within the prescribed time, he gets no sighters. So it's really a scramble and I think a couple of the shooters in the smallbore finals really suffered as a result. I wonder if the rules makers even considered the cost of the additional equipment that shooters will need.
The air rifle final is better because the shooters don't have to change equipment and the fimal at Murray was exciting. Maren Predeger fell behind early and was 3 or 4 points down but in the last 4 or 5 shots she was shooting 10.8s and almost caught the eventual winner who was shooting 10.2s.
L. Wigger was quite vocal about not liking the changes. MOB
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It has been made very clear that manny of the new rules introduced in the 2013 ISSF Rule amendments are intened for the benefit of the worlds top 50 or so eleite shooters shooting in World Cups/Championships and the Olympics. Oh and to keep the IOC/TV companies happy. Not that I think that will make much difference to shooting remaining an Olympic sport in the long term. Although it might possibly help short trem.

The new format is actually not that bad in the single position events, pistol, air and prone. It's just the 3P events that now need all the extra kit. I wasn't sure about the new format but now having shot an air rifle final it does make it closer starting again from zero, especially at lower level matches where there can be a significat difference in the scores of the qualifing shooters. Making up a couple of points difference may have been possible, making up 20 points is pretty unlikely. The only thing that the knockout system has that I do not like so much is that the third placed shooter fires two less shot than gold or silver placed shooters. So when a non-shooter looks at the results they see a score around 20 points less than the first two implying that that shooter was "a long way behind". I think the medalists should all fire the same number of shots.

Alan.

mobarron wrote: The smallbore finals is a sprint. There isn't much time between positions and the shooter who has to make adjustments to or change the buttplate, handstop and sights is really under pressure. If I were in one, I'd want 3 buttplates already adjusted, possibly a couple of cheekpieces and maybe 2 sets of sights. If the shooter isn't able to make those adjustments within the prescribed time, he gets no sighters. So it's really a scramble and I think a couple of the shooters in the smallbore finals really suffered as a result.

L. Wigger was quite vocal about not liking the changes.[/b]

3-P: It's not a sprint really, but a time limited event in each position.
Yes, it's a different event than the qualifier.
It requires much more organized approach. Where to put your equipment, where to leave your equipment, etc. Shooters who go into a final w/o the benefit of practicing one beforehand (many times) are at a distinct disadvantage. I think especially important is the changeover from prone to standing ... you'll see a disorganized/novice finals shooter get maybe 3-4 sighters ... a well tuned one get 10-14.
It also caters to a shooter who is well prepared enough to be confident in their abilities, but there is MUCH more pressure on the shooters than in the old final. A great example were the final shots by both Garrett & Tim ... they were separated by a pillar and were clueless of what the other fired .... both shot 7's.
YES - Have separate buttplates
YES - Have separate palm rests
I am not a big fan of separate sights ... I've personally seen way too many not be put on correctly because of the finals pressure (wrong sights, mismatched front& rear, etc) and then it's a disaster.
Does not really matter what Lones thinks ... this is the format for now ... embrace it! Personally, I love the new format!

AIR: CMP did not have a tested program for the air final and there was much confusion when it failed ... so that is not a typical final. Kudos to LarryP and Gary T especially that they kept it moving and not too much of a fiasco.
Air is still a bit confusing in any case because of when the event gets to the eliminations, there are those 2 shots between each elimination. Just takes practice to get used to it.

In short. it is even more important to practice the new finals.
Get out your ISSF/USAS Rulebook (you have one, yes?) and go to 6.17.2 & 6.17.3 in the GTR and go for it.

A note, when I run these for my shooters for practice, I'll let them know who would be dropped, but continue to let them shoot the full course.