Today is day 1 of competition for Para Shooting Sport as part of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games! And it is Natalie Smith in action in the R2 Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing (SH1) Event.
QUALIFICATION 30 August 9am local/5pm AEST
FINAL 11:45am local/7:45pm AEST (top 8 qualifiers)
How can you follow Natalie’s event?
You can see the competition start list and follow Natalie’s scores live via the Paris 2024 website.
R2 10M WOMEN’S AIR RIFLE STANDING
What is the R2 10m Women’s Air Rifle Standing event?
R2 is a quick reference of the event. We could just say “today Natalie is competing in the R2 event”.
Women’s means an event with only female competitors. There are only a small number of Para Shooting Sport events that are specific to men and women. The majority are open events ie both men and women competing on the line against each other.
10m Air Rifle is the distance between the athlete and the target, and of course air rifle is the firearm being used.
What is the competition format of the R2 10m Air Rifle event?
The competition format is very similar to that of able-bodied shooting sport – the goal of shooting is to place a series of shots inside the centre ring (‘bullseye’) of the target. The target is comprised of 10 concentric scoring rings with a score grade of 1 to 10; the central ring giving 10 points.
In the case of the 10m Air Rifle event, the scoring rings are each further subdivided into 10 scoring zones to give a decimal scoring system, with 10.9 being the very centre of the target and the highest possible score per shot.
The bulls-eye of the 10m rifle target is only 0.05cm wide!
Natalie will fire 60 shots at the target through 6 x ten shot series. She will have a 15 minute preparation and sighting time, followed by 75 minutes to fire the competition shots.
The top eight athletes in the qualification round qualify for the final, however qualification scores are not carried over into the final.
What does SH1 mean in Natalie’s event?
Para Shooting athletes receive formal competition classification relative to their impairment and in accordance with the World Shooting Para Sport Classification Rules and Regulations.
There are three classification classes; SH1, SH2 and SH3, however only SH1 and SH2 classes are currently represented in the Paralympic Games.
SH1 – Shooting athletes are able to support a firearm without a stand
SH2 – Shooting athletes require a firearm support to shoot
SH3 – Blind shooters (sights seek sound-emitting targets)
Sub-classifications A, B and C define wheelchair backrest height depending on back and pelvic strength per athlete.
Specifically for SH1 in rifle, this sport class is designated to athletes with lower limb impairment.
You can find more information on classification by clicking the button below.
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