The men's 300 m rifle three positions was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1960 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eighth appearance of the event at an Olympic Games. The competition was held on 3 and 5 September 1960, with 39 shooters from 22 nations competing. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Hubert Hammerer in Austria's debut in the event. Hans Rudolf Spillmann of Switzerland took silver. Soviet Vasily Borisov was the second man to win two medals in the event, adding a bronze to his 1956 gold.

Background

This was the eighth 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. Half of the top 10 shooters from 1956 returned: gold medalist Vasily Borisov of the Soviet Union, bronze medalist (and 1952 fifth-place finisher) Vilho Ylönen of Finland, fifth-place finisher Constantin Antonescu of Romania, seventh-place finisher Anders Kvissberg of Sweden, and ninth-place finisher Sándor Krebs of Hungary. Ylönen was also the reigning world champion.

Austria, Germany (as the United Team of Germany), Poland, and Sudan each made their debut in the event. Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United States each made their seventh appearance, tied for most of any nation.

Competition format

For the only time, the competition was held over two rounds. The qualifying round was a half-sized round, with each shooter firing 60 shots (20 in each position: prone, kneeling, and standing). The 39 competitors were divided into two groups, with 20 in one group and 19 in the other. The top 19 in each group qualified for the final. Thus, only one man was eliminated.

The final round had each shooter fire 120 shots, 40 shots in each position.

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, vol. 2, p. 934.

Records

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

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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

Date Time Round Saturday, 3 September 1960 9:00 Qualifying Monday, 5 September 1960 9:00 Final

Results

Qualifying

The qualifying round used a 60-shot format, with a total maximum score of 600. The top 19 shooters in each group advanced.

Group 1

Bakri was the only shooter eliminated in the qualifying round, as he finished 20th in the 20-man group (and the other group had only 19 shooters, all of whom automatically advanced).

Rank Shooter Nation Total Notes 1 Hans Rudolf Spillmann 570 2 Hubert Hammerer 567 3 Daniel Puckel 566 4 Vasily Borisov 559 5 Esa Kervinen 557 6 Adolfo Feliciano 555 7 Stefan Masztak 550 8 Miklós Szabó 550 9 Anders Kvissberg 549 10 Jorge di Giandoménico 548 11 Constantin Antonescu 544 12 František Prokop 543 13 Vladimir Grozdanović 538 14 Don Tolhurst 533 15 Wu Tao-yan 527 16 Egon Stephansen 523 17 Evald Gering 518 18 Rubén Váldez 505 19 Abdul Aziz Wains 487 20 Basha Bakri 421

Group 2

Rank Shooter Nation Total Notes 1 Vilho Ylönen 1126 2 Vladimír Stibořík 1123 3 Moisei Itkis 1124 4 John Foster 1121 5 August Hollenstein 1112 6 Wilhelm Sachsenmaier 1098 7 Sándor Krebs 1118 8 Kurt Johansson 1095 9 Hans-Joachim Mars 1105 10 Pedro Armella 1078 11 Uffe Schultz Larsen 1088 12 Edson Warner 1078 13 Marin Ferecatu 1050 14 Henryk Górski 1098 15 Josip Ćuk 1085 16 Luis Albornoz 1037 17 John Holt 1030 18 Michiel Victor 1012 19 Omar Anas 812

Final

Rank Shooter Nation Total Hubert Hammerer 1129 Hans Rudolf Spillmann 1127 Vasily Borisov 1127 4 Vilho Ylönen 1126 5 Moisei Itkis 1124 6 Vladimír Stibořík 1123 7 John Foster 1121 8 Sándor Krebs 1118 9 Esa Kervinen 1117 10 Daniel Puckel 1114 11 August Hollenstein 1112 12 Hans-Joachim Mars 1105 13 Stefan Masztak 1105 14 Anders Kvissberg 1104 15 František Prokop 1101 16 Wilhelm Sachsenmaier 1098 17 Henryk Górski 1098 18 Miklós Szabó 1096 19 Kurt Johansson 1095 20 Constantin Antonescu 1092 21 Uffe Schultz Larsen 1088 22 Jorge di Giandoménico 1088 23 Josip Ćuk 1085 24 Edson Warner 1078 25 Pedro Armella 1078 26 Wu Tao-yan 1074 27 Vladimir Grozdanović 1073 28 Adolfo Feliciano 1072 29 Egon Stephansen 1071 30 Marin Ferecatu 1050 31 Don Tolhurst 1049 32 Evald Gering 1037 33 Luis Albornoz 1037 34 John Holt 1030 35 Rubén Váldez 1028 36 Michiel Victor 1012 37 Omar Anas 812 — Abdul Aziz Wains

References