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Men's 50 metre pistol
at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
Men's 50 metre pistol; at the Games of the XIX Olympiad
	Shooting pictogram
Venue	Vicente Suárez Shooting Range
Date	18 October
Competitors	69 from 42 nations
Winning score	562 OR
Medalists
	← 1964; (men's) 1972 →

The mixed (or "open") ISSF 50 meter pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1968 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twelfth appearance of the event, and the first where the competition was open to women (though none competed). The competition was held on 18 October 1968 at the shooting ranges in Mexico City. 69 shooters from 42 nations competed.^[1] Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Grigory Kosykh of the Soviet Union in a shoot-off, the nation's second victory in the event (tying Finland for second-most all-time behind the United States' four). Heinz Mertel of West Germany took silver while Harald Vollmar of East Germany took bronze, with each nation earning a medal in their first competition separate from each other; they were the first medals for any German shooter in the free pistol since 1936.

Background

This was the 12th appearance of the ISSF 50 meter pistol event. The event was held at every Summer Olympics from 1896 to 1920 (except 1904, when no shooting events were held) and from 1936 to 2016; it was nominally open to women from 1968 to 1980, although very few women participated these years. A separate women's event would be introduced in 1984.^[2] 1896 and 1908 were the only Games in which the distance was not 50 metres; the former used 30 metres and the latter 50 yards.^[3]^[4]

Four of the top 10 shooters from the 1964 Games returned: two-time bronze medalist Yoshihisa Yoshikawa of Japan, sixth-place finisher Antonio Vita of Peru, seventh-place finisher Leif Larsson of Sweden, and ninth-place finisher An Jae-song of South Korea. Two-time reigning (1962 and 1966) world champion Vladimir Stolypin was on the Soviet Olympic team; runner-up Dencho Denev of Bulgaria and third-place finisher Hynek Hromada of Czechoslovakia also competed in Mexico City.

The Republic of China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Israel, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay, and Vietnam each made their debut in the event; East and West Germany competed separately for the first time. The United States made its 11th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the 1900 event.

Markkanen used a TsKIB SOO MЦ55. The most popular pistol, used by over two thirds of the shooters, was the German Hämmerli. The Soviet weapon was used by 16% and the Austrian pistol by 6%. The American team used custom weapons designed by Franklin Green, who had competed in the event in 1964 but did not make the United States team in 1968.^[4]

Competition format

Each shooter fired 60 shots, in 6 series of 10 shots each, at a distance of 50 metres. The target was round, 50 centimetres in diameter, with 10 scoring rings. Scoring for each shot was up to 10 points, in increments of 1 point. The maximum score possible was 600 points. Any pistol was permitted. Shoot-offs were held to break ties for top ranks.^[4]^[5]

Records

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

World record	Anton Jasinsky (URS)	566	Bucharest, Romania	1955
Olympic record	Aleksey Gushchin (URS) Väinö Markkanen (FIN)	560	Rome, Italy Tokyo, Japan	6 September 1960 18 October 1964

Grigory Kosykh and Heinz Mertel broke the Olympic record, tying at 562 before a shoot-off.

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Friday, 18 October 1968	8:30	Final

Results

Rank	Shooter	Nation	Score	Notes
	Grigory Kosykh	Soviet Union	562	OR Shoot-off: 30
	Heinz Mertel	West Germany	562	OR Shoot-off: 26
	Harald Vollmar	East Germany	560
4	Arnold Vitarbo	United States	559
5	Paweł Małek	Poland	556
6	Helmut Artelt	East Germany	555
7	Nelson Oñate	Cuba	555
8	Neagu Bratu	Romania	554
9	Matti Patteri	Finland	554
10	Vladimir Stolypin	Soviet Union	552
11	Lucian Giuşcă	Romania	552
12	Ernst Stoll	Switzerland	550
13	John Rødseth	Norway	550
14	Hynek Hromada	Czechoslovakia	550
15	William Hare	Canada	549
16	Don Hamilton	United States	549
17	Yoshihisa Yoshikawa	Japan	548
18	Hubert Garschall	Austria	547
19	Tüdeviin Myagmarjav	Mongolia	547
20	Jørgen Gabrielsen	Denmark	547
21	Leif Larsson	Sweden	546
22	Seppo Saarenpää	Finland	546
23	Albert Späni	Switzerland	546
24	Dencho Denev	Bulgaria	545
25	László Mucza	Hungary	545
26	Börje Nilsson	Sweden	544
27	Jaroslav Veselý	Czechoslovakia	544
28	Rajmund Stachurski	Poland	544
29	Charles Sexton	Great Britain	543
30	Nico Klein	Luxembourg	543
31	Jules Sobrian	Canada	543
32	Louis Vignaud	France	543
33	José Amedo	Spain	542
34	An Jae-song	South Korea	541
35	Barry Downs	Australia	541
36	Leopoldo Martínez	Mexico	540
37	Edgar Espinoza	Venezuela	540
38	Bertram Manhin	Trinidad and Tobago	539
39	Gerardo Castañeda	Guatemala	537
40	Niels Dahl	Denmark	536
41	Juan García	Spain	534
42	Antonio Vita	Peru	533
43	Hồ Minh Thu	Vietnam	533
44	Sutham Aswanit	Thailand	533
45	Kim Yong-bae	South Korea	532
46	Arturo Costa	Cuba	530
47	Michael Marton	Israel	530
48	Enrique Barragán	Uruguay	529
49	Javier Peregrina	Mexico	528
50	Shigeto Kusunoki	Japan	528
51	Paul Musso	France	527
52	Türker Özenbaş	Turkey	526
53	Chen Jeng-gang	Chinese Taipei	525
54	Walter Vera	Uruguay	524
55	Durval Guimarães	Brazil	524
56	Cheng Chi-sen	Chinese Taipei	521
57	Dương Văn Dan	Vietnam	519
58	Tito Castillo	El Salvador	519
59	Francisco Sandoval	Guatemala	519
60	Antonio Mendoza	Philippines	514
61	José Agdamag	Philippines	514
62	Marcus Loader	Great Britain	512
63	José González	Puerto Rico	511
64	Amorn Yuktanandana	Thailand	511
65	Kurt Meyer	West Germany	506
66	Loh Kok Heng	Singapore	499
67	Antonio Mora	Costa Rica	499
68	Rodrigo Ruiz	Costa Rica	485
69	Miguel Barasorda	Puerto Rico	481

References

^ "Shooting at the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games: Mixed Free Pistol, 50 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
^ "Shooting". Olympedia. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
^ "Historical Results". issf-sports.org. International Shooting Sport Federation. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Free Pistol, 50 Metres, Open". Olympedia. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
^ Official Report, vol. 2, p. 430.