There is a story in every final. Final presentations should seek to tell that story, not hide it in obscurity. Today, we are pleased to announce Scopos’ brand new, spectator-focused final presentation, for single-position finals (e.g. air rifle and air pistol) and three-position finals (e.g. smallbore three-position). These improvements:

• Are for the spectators, making it easy, even to those who may not know much about the sport, to follow the match play. 
• “Tell the story” of who’s winning, who’s challenging the leader, and who might be moving down the rankings.
• Bring the excitement everywhere, automatically making the live final results available on premise and online, with both desktop and mobile views.

“Finals, where the top marksmen come back after qualification to determine the winner of the match, are currently the sport's best hope at becoming spectator-friendly. The changes we announce today are specifically intended to entertain, thrill, and engage spectators. “ - Erik Anderson Ph.D. Chief Architect at Scopos.

The improvements described in this newsletter, and demonstrated in the video above, are on top of Scopos’ existing industry leading result list system, and specific for end-of-competition finals. The improvements may be seen both on-premise during finals with the MM100 Spectator Display, and online using Rezults, on both desktop and mobile views.

Who’s ‘At Risk?’

Each elimination round of the final is designed to be its own mini-competition, culminating in the gold medal shot. The phrase, “who’s at risk” has come to refer to the marksman who is sitting in last place and is in danger of being eliminated. Each elimination round, there is one marksman who gets an “AT RISK” remark. When you’re at risk, the pressure is on to shoot well and try and survive to the next round. 

When the elimination round shooting begins the spectator displays shift to an all target image display. Then, in an industry first, the messages begin to flash on the marksmens’ targets. Maybe it says “Survive 10.6.” Meaning, if they shoot a 10.6 or better they will survive to the next round. If they don’t, they sit down and they are given the “ELIMINATED” remark.. 

But what if the marksmen does shoot well enough and survives to the next round. In another industry first, Scopos now rewards these marksman’s performances by giving them a “SURVIVE” remark. Maybe the marksman continues to shoot well enough and earns a remark like, “SURVIVE x 2,” which means this marksman has survived elimination not once, but twice.

Who is the ‘Leader?’ 

Who is at risk of elimination and who survived elimination, is only half the story. At the top of the leaderboard are the marksmen who are in the lead. At each commentary stop during the final, Scopos rewards the leader of the final with the “LEADER” remark. 

Marksmen who were in the lead, but have since fallen, keep the remark with them. But the remark will instead read, “HELD LEAD x 3”, yet another industry first. Which, in this example, means this marksman was leading the final at three commentary points, but is no longer in the lead.

When the elimination round shooting begins, again the spectator displays show the all target images screen. This screen shift is purposefully designed to keep spectators' attention on what matters most. Namely, marksmen and their current shots. To make it more thrilling, in the fourth industry first we are announcing, each marksman targets gets a label like “Leads 9.6.” This message means the marksmen needs a 9.6 to take the lead. Even more exciting, these labels are updated live, as they are shooting.

Who’s Moving Up? Who’s Moving Down

In the fifth industry first we are announcing today, the spectator displays during commentary will now graphically show which athletes shot well in the last series and moved up in the ranking using an up arrow. Athletes who didn’t shoot well and moved down, are shown with a down arrow.

Who Won?

At the end of the final, the third, second, and first place marksmen are rewarded with “FIRST,” “SECOND,” and “THIRD” remarks, along with color highlighting in bronze, silver and gold.

Mobile view of the Final on Rezults

Conclusion

Finals not only determine who wins a match, but they also excite spectators like never before. Scopos’ new final presentation was designed to “tell the story” of the final to each of the spectators watching on the range, as well as the spectators watching the final from their mobile phones from far away. 

We would like to thank the Civilian Marksmanship Program’s Brad Donoho and Katie Harrington for their input on our final presentation. 

To Learn More

To learn more about finals and how to conduct them at your range, please visit the CMP’s On the Mark and read Gary Anderson’s Finals and How to Conduct Them.