COMPETITION FORMATS FOR THE NEW FINALS

NEW FINALS RULES

The ISSF Administrative Council has approved many changes in its Finals rules for Olympic events to go into effect in 2013. Detailed rules for these finals have been drafted and will be presented to the Administrative Council for approval at its meeting in November 2012. Since the competition formats for the new Finals have been approved, however, this “Summary” also provides information about the 2013 Finals.

 

REASONS FOR CHANGING SHOOTING FINALS

 

·         All Olympic sports today must become more dynamic, attract more fans, engage the public with more drama and provide great shows for youth, spectators, television and the media.

·         The current Shooting Finals began in 1986; they represented a big step forward at that time, but 26 years of experience has demonstrated that many improvements are possible.

·         During the last three years, many proposals and ideas for new Finals were developed and tested by ISSF Section Committees, as well as its Technical, Athletes and Coaches Committees. The best of these ideas are now in the new Finals Rules.

·         The ideas that proved to be most successful in ISSF tests as well as for other sports or that were recommended by television and media experts are starting all athletes who qualify for the Final at zero, using eliminations to add drama throughout the Final, deciding the medals with two-person duels and duels and using scoring systems that spectators can react to instantly.

·         Changes made in the Rapid-Fire Pistol Finals for 2011, with finalists starting at zero, hit-miss scoring, eliminations and gold medal duels have been especially exciting and successful. The success of these ideas made them a model for the new 2013 Finals.

PRINCIPLES OF THE NEW FINALS

 

·         Qualification. Qualification courses of fire and rules remain the same as they are now. The purpose of the Qualification is to advance the eight (or six in 25m RFP) best athletes to the Finals.

·         Start at Zero. Qualification scores are no longer carried forward. Almost all sports have finals that begin as new contests. Shooting long had difficulties in explaining why some athletes in its Finals start with advantages.

·         More Shots in Finals. Since the new Shooting Finals will start at zero, the number of shots in Finals was increased to ensure that they are a true test of skill.

·         Eliminations of Lowest Ranked Finalists. After firing an initial series of shots, the lowest ranked finalists are progressively eliminated until two athletes remain to fight for the gold medal.

·         Variations for Different Events. All shooting events do not use the same Finals Format; different disciplines or event groups have different Finals formats to reflect the fact that all shooting events are not the same. The most dramatic ways to present each event were sought. Scoring for the 25m Pistol Finals uses hit-miss scoring, but tenth ring scoring is retained for the 10m and 50m Rifle and Pistol Events. Shotgun and 25m Pistol Women Finals use Quarterfinal and Semifinal Stages to identify the athletes who will compete in bronze and gold medal duels while other events use a series of eliminations to reach gold medal duels. 25m Pistol Women duel will use a point system to decide winners.

COMPETITION FORMATS FOR THE NEW FINALS

·         Trap and Double Trap. Eight qualifiers advance from the qualification and are divided into two squads of four to compete in two quarterfinals. Each competition series (quarterfinals, semifinals and medal duels) consists of 15 targets or 15 doubles shot from stations two, three and four with target throwing schemes (2 left, 1 center and 2 right on each station) that ensure the equal distribution of targets. The top two in each quarterfinal advance to the semifinal. After the semifinal the third and fourth place shooters advance to the bronze medal duel and the first and second place in the semifinal shoot for the gold and silver medals.

·         Skeet. Eight qualifiers advance from the qualification and are divided into two squads of four to compete in two quarterfinals. Each competition series (quarterfinals, semifinals and medal duels) consists of one regular double and one reverse double on stations 3, 4, 5 and 4 (four targets on each station) for a total of 16 targets. The top two in each quarterfinal advance to the semifinal. The third and fourth place shooters in the semifinal shoot in the bronze medal duel and the first and second place in the semifinal shoot for the gold and silver medals.

·         10m Air Pistol Men and Women, 10m Air Rifle Men and Women, 50m Rifle Prone Men and 50m Pistol Men. Eight qualifiers advance and start at the same time. All finalists fire two series of three shots. Single shots begin with shot number seven, with the lowest ranking finalist being eliminated after every two shots (#8, #10, #12, #14, #16 and #18). After 18 shots, two athletes remain to fire two additional shots to decide the gold and silver medal winners.

·         50m Three-Position Rifle Events. Decisions on the Finals format are not complete.

·         25m Rapid-Fire Pistol Men. Rules are essentially unchanged from the 2011-2012 rules.

·         25m Pistol Women. Eight qualifiers advance and start at the same time. The Finals consists of two stages, an Elimination Stage and a Duel Stage. All scoring is hit-miss. The Elimination Stage consists of five (5) 5-shot rapid-fire series with all eight finalists firing at the same time. In the Duel Stage, the third and fourth place athletes from the Elimination Stage compete for the bronze medal and the first and second place athletes from the Elimination Stage compete for gold. The gold medal duel is fired after the bronze medal duel. Duels are decided by a point system where the best score in each 5-shot series receives two points and tied scores each receive one point each. Duel winners must score seven points.

 

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl  -  ISSF Judge - A 423

Source:  ISSF Website