These are exciting times for Steyr Sport. The world-renowned gun manufacturer based out of Austria reaped a rich harvest of medals at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games last month and celebrated 20 years of equipping the best in the business with state-of-the-art guns.
Like Steyr Sport and its products, the pursuit of excellence is relentless for shooters using Steyr rifle and pistol. It was a potent combination as battleground Tokyo became a happy hunting ground for the company and its athletes once again. There isnÔÇÖt a bigger sporting platform than the Olympics, and name the event in rifle or pistol, Steyr stamped its stamp of excellence.
Steyr has dominated shooting events at the Olympics since 1992. The company record at the sport biggest event is mindboggling. Starting from Barcelona 1992 to Tokyo 2020, shooters using Steyr rifles and pistols have bagged 33 medals, 11 of them gold.
The build-up to the Tokyo Games was ideal for the prolific Javad Foroughi as the Iranian bagged gold in Men’s 10m Air Pistol at the New Delhi and Osijek ISSF World Cups. Firing with a Steyr Evo 10, the 42-year-old World No 1 topped the field in Tokyo too with a score of 244.8 in the final and a big margin of 6.9.
The women shooters in this event too were not far behind with Bulgaria Antoaneta Kostadinova and Jiang Ranxin of China claiming silver and bronze respectively, again with a Steyr Evo 10E. The 21-year-old Jiang was again in the news with gold in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team while Russia Artem Chernousov was part of the silver medal winning team with her Steyr Evo 10E. Team Ukraine comprising Oleana Kostevych and Oleh Omelchuck got bronze with Steyr Evo 10E.
Steyr was equally dominant in rifle events. Anastasia Galashina and her Steyr Challenge got Russia silver in Women’s 10m Air Rifle. Russia Sergey Kamenskiy was part of the bronze medal winning team in 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team with his Steyr Challenge E.
Steyr domination spilled to the Paralympic Games. China made it 1-2 in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol (SH1) with Yang Chao and silver medallist Huan Zing proving far superior with their Steyr Evo 10 and LP 10 respectively.
In Women’s 10m Air Pistol (SH1), Sareh Javanmardi of Iran left the field far behind, shooting a world record of 239.2 with her Steyr Evo 10. Turkey Aysegul Pehlivanar followed Sareh on the podium as she claimed silver with her Steyr LP 10.
Another Steyr shooter Martin Strempfl has been prolific in the online competitions organized by indianshooting.com, and will return as defending champion at the 8th IOSC for rifle shooters, which gets underway from September 24. The 37-year-old Austrian was a part of the Tokyo Olympics as well, and though he did not return with a medal, the 13th position with his Steyr Air Rifle Challenge E was a good show, nonetheless.
Steyr Sport is no stranger to online competitions, and after stamping its authority in sport biggest extravaganza, the Olympic Games, the focus will be on another dominating show at the weekend two-day IOSC.
