Will the new TARGET SPRINT be included in Olympics 2016?

amarinder · Post by **amarinder** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:49 am

As per ISSF News , "A new name and new competition for the ISSF Run & Shoot event was announced today. ISSF TARGET SPRINT will now be the branding tag for this action-filled ISSF Sport for All event. And the ISSF is organizing a TARGET SPRINT Grand Prix in Munich (GER) in May in conjunction that is open to international participation."

Will this competition be included in Common wealth games, Olympic 2016 ?

RobStubbs · Post by **RobStubbs** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 12:31 pm

I'm pretty sure the answer is no as it's too late. But if it takes off the ISSF could petition for in future Olympics or commonwealth games.

Rob.

renzo · Post by **renzo** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:47 pm

I think this is partof the ISSF trend towards making shooting look like a "physically athletic" sport, together with the clothing rule modifications.

I wouldn't be surprised if they try to replace one of the existing Olympic shooting disciplines with the new "TARGET SPRINT" for the OG 2020. The emphasis on the simplicity of the scoring system of the new discipline makes me wonder, as it comes from the same people that has been complicating things beyond belief in the last years.

Within two weeks we will be hosting a national tournament, where we will conduct OF's in 3x40 and 3x20 in paper targets, i'll tell you how it went.

Next will be a limit on the BMI of all shooters................................

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 3:24 pm

I think it's a cute twist on shooting sports, and would like to see an air pistol version. But more like the winter biathlon, as in the competitors wear a chest harness and run with their own pistol and pellets. And a weedwacker CBI of course... 'cause hey, that'd make it look even cuter. Anything for TV viewers, right?

Levergun59 · Post by **Levergun59** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 7:56 am

Well, here comes the fortner-ishmash air rifles. Have to pony up another 2-4000 bucks. Still, considering the success of biathlon in the Vancouver olympics, this will catch on very quickly. Hey, my kid already has the harness and sling so I am that much ahead. lol
Chris

ThreeByForty · Post by **ThreeByForty** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:38 pm

It's neat in the sense they're promoting it as a "sport for all", but it seems they haven't realized that the main part of this sport includes SPRINTING. Look at all the current sprinters at an Olympic event and then compare them that to the current pistol and rifle shooters and see which sport is accessible to "all".

jr · Post by jr » Sat Mar 30, 2013 3:52 pm

Interestingly, the IOC lists a 'core group of 25 sports' for the 2020 Olympics that includes "shooting" (collectively all the disciplines). It also includes modern pentathlon, which includes a shooting component in tandem with running. Wrestling has been dropped, but in September they IOC will decide whether to re-admit wrestling or to add one of the sports from these seven: baseball/softball, karate, roller sports, sport climbing, squash, wakeboarding and wushu.

jr · Post by jr » Sat Mar 30, 2013 4:09 pm

And to be fair, the ISSF description does say that the "new event mixes air rifle shooting and middle distance running", not sprinting. The description on the ISSF website talks about the running segments being 600m - too long for an all-out sprint. That they're calling it "Target Sprint" is probably just because that sounds sexier than "Target Middle Distance Run"

As far as it being a "sport for all", well, this is also very interesting. The physical and mental characteristics that make for good shooters are mostly in opposition of those which make for good middle-distance runners, and the extreme tension of shooting with an elevated HR and under an obvious time constraint is going to also show up when trying to run after being focused and relaxed from shooting.

I am neither a good runner nor a good shot, but I will say that the most fun I've ever had either running or shooting was doing a "Summer Biathlon" last year. Of course, to be completely honest, the 20 minutes that I was actually competing were likely among the most miserable 20 minutes I've ever spent doing a voluntary activity... but that was soon forgotten.

Anyway, "Target Sprint" does sound exciting, and I hope it - or something like it - becomes another event that we have access to!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 7:06 pm

Lots of running will give you the stamina and lower pulse to be a better rifle shooter. I think 600 meter running is very compatible with rifle accuracy. In Biathlon the targets are "basketball size" to a 50m smallbore shooter.
Chris

Hemmers · Post by **Hemmers** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:45 pm

amarinder wrote:As per ISSF News , "A new name and new competition for the ISSF Run & Shoot event was announced today. ISSF TARGET SPRINT will now be the branding tag for this action-filled ISSF Sport for All event. And the ISSF is organizing a TARGET SPRINT Grand Prix in Munich (GER) in May in conjunction that is open to international participation."

Will this competition be included in Common wealth games, Olympic 2016 ?

Nope. Waaaay too late for 2016. Unless they want to bulk out the games with "small sports" because they end up having tocancel all the athletics? (We can but dream!)

Gerard wrote:I think it's a cute twist on shooting sports, and would like to see an air pistol version. But more like the winter biathlon, as in the competitors wear a chest harness and run with their own pistol and pellets.

I'm not sure I'd call biathlon or anything biathlon-like "cute", unless they're all running round in Hello Kitty tracksuits shooting pink rifles? It's bloody hard work!

Carrying the rifles would make more sense. I guess they're going with air at least initially because it's easier to accomodate a temporary air range at an athletics venue than accommodating athletics at a range facility with accommodation for rimfire. Indeed in the UK there's a lot of this with the Pony Club's Triathlon (Run/Shoot-Swim-Precision Shoot) events, so it's trading on existing skills and experience.

ThreeByForty wrote:It's neat in the sense they're promoting it as a "sport for all", but it seems they haven't realized that the main part of this sport includes SPRINTING. Look at all the current sprinters at an Olympic event and then compare them that to the current pistol and rifle shooters and see which sport is accessible to "all".

Well, as jr says, it's hardly a sprint. That's just a branding tag. There aren't many Olympic sprinters who could do 600m+ at full chat, then do it again after a few seconds of shooting! I remember seeing an interview with Usain Bolt. Although he does 100m, 200m and 400m he really hates the 400m because that's far enough for him to start to get lactic acid!
Middle distance is still tough though, and without penalty laps it would seem to favour the runners over the shooters. Although from what I've read (which is only the press release. Not sure if there's a ruleset available?), it actually might not.
In Biathlon you have your 5 shot mag, then I think you have a couple of spare rounds that you can hand-load, then you get a time penalty or penalty lap for any targets left standing.

In Target Sprint it just says you can't leave until you've downed them all and doesn't specify a maximum number of attempted shots. Which means theoretically the fastest runner could be there for hours having an indefinite number of attempts at downing the last one! There isn't a cut off after which you stop, serve your penalty and carry on. Theoretically you could get stuck on the shooting stage for ages, which certainly favours the shooters!

Anonymous wrote:In Biathlon the targets are "basketball size" to a 50m smallbore shooter.
Chris

Well, under normal conditions. Even the best smallbore shooters would have an interesting time of it if they were running a pulse of 150+BPM and gasping for breath!

j-team · Post by **j-team** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 2:25 pm

Hemmers wrote:Carrying the rifles would make more sense.

Not really. Have you ever run with a rifle? Running is bouncy, skiing isn't. Running with a rifle on your back, you will just end up very bruised and sore! Leaving the rifle at the firing point makes more sense to me.

I'd like to see a pistol version, I'm all for it.

Rutty · Post by **Rutty** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:34 am

I'd like to see a pistol version, I'm all for it.

Pistol would be OK as long as it didn't end up like the ridiculous fairground event that the modern pentahletes have inflicted upon themselves. Biathlon targets are fine, but what I feel would get the mix of precision and speed would be a penalty miss rule; i.e.

miss a target and you go back to the preceding one and shoot it again

I found the sight of pentathletes demonstrating how fast they could operate the cocking lever and throw the laser pointer into position quite ridiculous.

exmpa

RossM · Post by **RossM** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 5:34 am

Here in New Zealand we tried biathlon style events for a few years. I liked them! We ran it for a few years at the smallbore 50m nationals as the last event of the week. About 500m run, 5 shots, 500m run, 5 shots ending with a 500m run. We had spotters watching the shooter who shot prone and all they had to do was hit the white. Just the 5 shots and any misses cost 30 secs if I remember rightly.

We also ran an event that attracted runners and all sorts at Trentham but the runs were about 1 km. Good for the runners but not for the shooters even though we could nail the 5 targets ina bout a 10th of the time of a runner!

But this ISSF event could start them up again. I will be suggesting it for 2014 'cos we are hosting the nats in Wellington !!!

Rutty: The Mod Pentathlon I watched was air pistols and they were loaded until all 5 targets had been hit. And yes, it could take a few sometimes to knock them down but the TV coverage i have seen of the MP World Cups have been quite good TV. Having the winner at the end of the race with no countbacks or anything - first over the line is the winner - made good TV.

Neon21 · Post by **Neon21** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 5:43 am

Is this “Target Sprint” also already common in your countrys?
There’s already a equivalent to biathlon here in Germany and very popular (between shooters).
It’s simply called Summer Biathlon.

Can be done with
-Running+shooting (international competition possible)
-Inlineskating + shooting (only regional competitions)
-Mountainbiking + shooting (only regional competitions)

missing the target = adding 30sec or additional 70m running.
The distance is variable, 4 – 8km.

I think I’ll visit the World Cup on May 26 in Munich and have a look.

Rutty · Post by **Rutty** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 11:56 am

Rutty: The Mod Pentathlon I watched was air pistols and they were loaded until all 5 targets had been hit. And yes, it could take a few sometimes to knock them down but the TV coverage i have seen of the MP World Cups have been quite good TV. Having the winner at the end of the race with no countbacks or anything - first over the line is the winner - made good TV.

Not the London Olympic combined event l which was shot with the laser pointer, unlimited flashes in 50 seconds. It really did look like a fairground.

Rutty