Comments on: American Tracy Barnes Wins World Biathlon Shoot-Out

By: Tracy Barnes

Tracy Barnes — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:04:54 +0000

You are absolutely right. There is no comparison between a laser and a 22. It is a shame that we had to use the laser. I’m sure all of the athletes, including myself, would have preferred to use our 22’s. It changes the whole sport. But I am confident that biathlon will remain unchanged and lasers will not have a presence in our sport. It’s sad to hear that pentathlon is using lasers. Because we used the lasers we didn’t have to deal with recoil, wind, etc. We all had questions about the lasers i.e. diameter of the laser vs a bullet width, speed of light vs speed of bullet, etc. We found that this shooting event was based more around speed of shooting and dealing with the pressure/adrenaline of shooting in front of such a huge crowd. You are right also in saying that this would have been more of an accomplishment had it been with a “live fire” rifle, but as a biathlete you cannot turn down an opportunity like this to compete in such a unique and exciting event. It is definitely one of a kind, and hopefully will return to normal .22LR next year.

By: Max Dejong

Max Dejong — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:43:39 +0000

This was the first and only event where laser rifles were used in biathlon. All of the athletes hope that it will be the last. There is little support for it. In this case the athletes were given the laser rifles the day before the event and most of them had never even shot the contraption before. All athletes agreed that the laser was not nearly as exciting or difficult as the normal 22. Preference is still with the 22.

By: Biathlon Info

Biathlon Info — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:41:45 +0000

I believe the main advantage of using the laser system was to allow more spectators to enjoy the venue. It opened up a lot of seats that were closed off in previous years. It was, however, lame to hear electronic “rounds” go off and hit imaginary steel targets.
It was mentioned that the laser systems are too sensitive to weather conditions to ever be used in the world cup. Let’s hope it stays that way!

On a side note, this event is not on par with the Super Bowl!(Olympics, World Championships and the Biathlon World Cup are more important) It’s really just a lot of fun in Gelsenkirchen!

http://www.biathlon-aufschalke.de/

By: Editor

Editor — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 01:52:22 +0000

Emil,

You raise a good point. I didn’t want to diminish Tracy’s accomplishment, but you’re absolutely right. Lasers are replacing arms in the modern Pentathlon and one has to be concerned about the use of laser rifles in this large event if it was conducted successfully for six previous years with .22 LR. Aiming a laser is definitely not the same as shooting a rimfire rifle.

By: Emil Praslick

Emil Praslick — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:23:09 +0000

“Laser Rifles Used in Shoot-Out
This was an exciting competition for the athletes and the 50,000 spectators at the Veltins Soccer Stadium as it was the first time that laser-rifles replaced the traditional .22-caliber rifle.”

Wow. This was reported like it was a good thing. Soon shooting sports will completely disappear from the Olympics.

By: Al

Al — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 21:12:57 +0000

The Barnes Twins are using the StraightJacket Barrel System on their rifles you can see it in most of their photos from this year!