The men's 300 m rifle three positions was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event at an Olympic Games. The competition was held on 1 December 1956, with 20 shooters from 14 nations competing. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Vasily Borisov of the Soviet Union, the nation's second consecutive victory in two appearances (tying Switzerland for most gold medals in the event). The Soviets finished 1–2, with Allan Erdman taking silver. Vilho Ylönen of Finland earned the bronze.

Background

This was the seventh appearance of the men's 300 metre three-positions rifle event, which was held 11 times between 1900 and 1972.The event was open to women in 1968 and 1972. Only one of the top 10 shooters from 1952 returned: fifth-place finisher Vilho Ylönen of Finland. Reigning gold medalist and 1954 world champion Anatoli Bogdanov opted to compete only in small-bore events in 1956. This left his countryman Vasily Borisov, the runner-up at the world championship, as the favorite.

The Republic of China, Pakistan, the Philippines, Romania, and South Korea each made their debut in the event. Denmark and Norway did not compete in the event for the first time; the Danes and Norwegians had competed in each of the first six appearances of the three-positions competition. Finland, Sweden, and the United States each made their sixth appearance, tied with Norway and Denmark for most appearances.

Competition format

The competition had each shooter fire 120 shots, 40 shots in each of three positions: prone, kneeling, and standing. Shots were fired in series of 10. The target was 1 metre in diameter, with 10 scoring rings; targets were set at a distance of 300 metres. Thus, the maximum score possible was 1200 points. Any rifle could be used.Official Report, p. 570.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Vasily Borisov broke the Olympic record with 1138 points to win. All three medalists were above the old record. Borisov also set a world record in the prone position, with 396 points.Official Report, p. 563.

Schedule

All times are Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)

Date Time Round Saturday, 1 December 1956 9:00 Final

Results

Rank Shooter Nation Score Notes Prone Kneeling Standing Total Vasily Borisov 396 383 359 1138 Allan Erdman 392 385 360 1137 Vilho Ylönen 387 382 359 1128 4 Jorma Taitto 392 379 349 1120 5 Constantin Antonescu 386 374 341 1101 6 John Sundberg 384 367 343 1094 7 Anders Kvissberg 389 362 342 1093 8 James Smith 381 368 333 1082 9 Sándor Krebs 379 364 335 1078 10 Herbert Voelcker 385 355 335 1075 11 Gerald Ouellette 370 357 339 1066 12 Rubén Váldez 373 338 333 1044 13 Martin Gison 387 368 288 1043 14 Guillermo Baldwin 379 359 302 1040 15 Wu Tao-yan 370 349 306 1025 16 Ian Wrigley 382 350 289 1021 17 Norman Goff 372 343 295 1010 18 Steffen Cranmer 356 336 307 999 19 Chu Hwa-il 338 286 279 903 20 Saifi Chaudhry 84 — 183 267

References