Shooting at the 1912 Summer Olympics – Men's 300 metre free rifle, three positions

The men's 300 m rifle three positions was a shooting sports event held as part of the shooting at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the third appearance of the event, which had been introduced in 1900. The competition was held on Tuesday, 2 July 1912.^[1] Eighty-four sport shooters from nine nations competed. The event was won by Paul Colas of France, the nation's first medal in the event. Denmark took the silver and bronze medals, as Lars Jørgen Madsen (in his third time competing in the event) finished second and Niels Larsen placed third.

Men's 300 metre free rifle, three positions at the Games of the V Olympiad
Paul Colas
Venue	Kaknäs
Date	2 July
Competitors	84 from 9 nations
Winning score	987 OR
Medalists
Paul Colas  France Lars Jørgen Madsen  Denmark Niels Larsen  Denmark
← 1908 1920 →

Background

This was the third appearance of the men's 300 metre three-positions rifle event, which was held 11 times between 1900 and 1972.^[2][3] Lars Jørgen Madsen of Denmark, who had taken fifth in 1900 and 14th in 1908, was competing once again. Other veterans of the 1908 Games competing again included the four Norwegians from the top 10 in 1908: gold medalist Albert Helgerud, bronze medalist Ole Sæther, sixth-place finisher Julius Braathe, and ninth-place finisher Olaf Sæther. Léon Johnson of France, the eighth-place finisher, also returned. None of the world champions competed.^[4]

Russia and South Africa made their debut in the event. Denmark, France, and Norway each made their third appearance, the only nations to have competed at every appearance of the event to date.

Competition format

The competition had each shooter fire 120 shots, 40 shots in each of three positions: prone, kneeling, and standing. 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, with an open fore sight and open back sight; any ammunition could be used. Ties were broken by hits on targets, then centre hits, then 10s, then 9s, etc.^[4][5]

Records

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

World record
Olympic record	Emil Kellenberger (SUI)	930	Paris, France	5 August 1900

The top ten shooters in 1912 broke the Olympic record. Paul Colas ended with the new record, at 987 points.

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Tuesday, 2 July 1912	11:00 16:00	Final

Results

Rank	Shooter	Nation	Total	Notes
	Paul Colas	France	987	OR
	Lars Jørgen Madsen	Denmark	981
	Niels Larsen	Denmark	962
4	Hugo Johansson	Sweden	959
5	Gudbrand Skatteboe	Norway	956
6	Bernhard Larsson	Sweden	954
7	Albert Helgerud	Norway	952
8	Tönnes Björkman	Sweden	947
9	Ole Sæther	Norway	941
10	Erik Blomqvist	Sweden	932
11	Gustaf Adolf Jonsson	Sweden	928
12	Ole Olsen	Denmark	926
13	Voitto Kolho	Finland	923
14	Mauritz Eriksson	Sweden	922
15	Einar Liberg	Norway	921
16	Christian Tauson	Denmark	921
17	Carl Osburn	United States	915
18	Olaf Sæther	Norway	914
19	Gustaf Nyman	Finland	913
20	Werner Jernström	Sweden	912
21	Cornelius Burdette	United States	912
22	Paul Vighals	Norway	911
23	Østen Østensen	Norway	911
24	Léon Johnson	France	908
25	Heikki Huttunen	Finland	906
26	Thomas Refsum	Norway	905
27	Olaf Husby	Norway	905
28	Harry Adams	United States	903
29	Julius Braathe	Norway	900
30	Arne Sunde	Norway	900
31	Engebret Skogen	Norway	899
32	Warren Sprout	United States	896
33	Laurits Larsen	Denmark	894
34	Carl Björkman	Sweden	888
35	Allan Briggs	United States	888
36	Harold Bartlett	United States	884
37	Robert Jonsson	Sweden	875
38	Frederick Hird	United States	875
39	Huvi Tuiskunen	Finland	875
40	George Harvey	South Africa	874
41	Vilho Vauhkonen	Finland	870
42	August Wikström	Sweden	870
43	Nils Skog	Sweden	869
44	Louis Percy	France	868
45	Auguste Marion	France	868
46	Frants Nielsen	Denmark	851
47	Anders Peter Nielsen	Denmark	849
48	Per-Olof Arvidsson	Sweden	839
49	Emil Holm	Finland	835
50	Emil Bömches	Hungary	828
51	Robert Patterson	South Africa	810
52	Hans Schultz	Denmark	808
53	Raoul de Boigne	France	806
54	Teotan Lebedev	Russia	806
55	Robert Bodley	South Africa	806
56	Ernest Keeley	South Africa	800
57	Lauri Kolho	Finland	787
58	Dmitry Kuskov	Russia	780
59	Jalo Autonen	Finland	776
60	Povl Gerlow	Denmark	772
61	George Whelan	South Africa	762
62	Pavel de Valdayne	Russia	758
63	Athanase Sartori	France	754
64	Arthur Smith	South Africa	752
65	Boris Belinsky	Russia	746
66	Aleksandr Tillo	Russia	744
67	Albert Johnstone	South Africa	741
68	Konstantin Kalinin	Russia	736
69	Zoltán Jelenffy	Hungary	718
70	Charles Jeffreys	South Africa	715
71	Pavel Lesh	Russia	713
72	Rezső Velez	Hungary	712
73	Osvald Rechke	Russia	699
74	László Hauler	Hungary	677
75	Aladár von Farkas	Hungary	653
76	Georgy de Davydov	Russia	635
77	Dāvids Veiss	Russia	623
78	Aleksandr Dobrzhansky	Russia	463
—	Hans Denver	Denmark	DNF
	Pierre Gentil	France	DNF
	Jens Hajslund	Denmark	DNF
	Géza Mészöly	Hungary	DNF
	István Prihoda	Hungary	DNF
	Nestori Toivonen	Finland	DNF

References

1. . sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
2. "Historical Results". ISSF. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
3. The event was open to women in 1968 and 1972.
4. "Free Rifle, Three Positions, 300 metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
5. Official Report, p. 1058.

External links

• Bergvall, Erik (ed.) (1913). Adams-Ray, Edward (trans.). (ed.). The Official Report of the Olympic Games of Stockholm 1912. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich" (in Polish). Retrieved 26 January 2007.