ISSF announces format tweaks for qualification cycle of 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) on Thursday announced a few tweaks to the sport’s existing Olympic format ahead of Los Angeles 2028.

The first of three changes says that the number of athletes who will be participating in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol final and the finals of shotgun events has gone up from six to eight.

Unlike other Olympic years, 2028 will see the 50m rifle 3 positions final being played in only the ‘Standing’ position. This will understandably be advantageous for shooters who also dabble in the air rifle event.

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Lastly, as was being discussed for a while now, the Gold Medal Match and Bronze Medal Match formats will be scrapped from mixed team events. Instead, they are going to have a general elimination method to decide the medal winners.

These proposals were finalised after the ISSF Technical Committee meeting in February, which featured representation from the ISSF Athletes Committee and other Discipline Committee Chairs. All changes were initially agreed upon by the Athletes and Technical Committees before sending to the IOC.

These format changes will apply from January 1, 2026, in time for athletes to adapt during the LA28 qualification cycle.

These format changes do not require additional technology or space, nor have an influence on technical official resources. Trials of these new formats will be delivered throughout 2025 to ensure these new finals are refined for athletes and audiences before the change in 2026.

ISSF President Luciano Rossi said: “We are extremely pleased and happy to have our 15 shooting events confirmed in the Olympic Programme for LA28.

“We thank and express our sincere gratitude to the IOC for their continued faith and trust in us as an Olympic Sport, as we continue to develop and grow the appeal and popularity of shooting disciplines within the Olympic ethos, as shown in the event-based evaluation of shooting at Paris 2024 and look forward to a great Games in 2028.”