# Shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 300 metre free rifle, three positions

The men's 300 m rifle three positions was one of 15 events on the shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on Saturday, 11 July 1908. Each nation could enter up to 12 shooters. Fifty-one sport shooters from ten nations competed. The event was won by Albert Helgerud of Norway, the nation's first victory in the event (after a bronze in 1900). Norway also won bronze, with Ole Sæther finishing third. Between the two Norwegians was Harry Simon, taking silver in the United States' debut.

## Background

This was the second appearance of the men's 300 metre three-positions rifle event, which was held 11 times between 1900 and 1972. Lars Jørgen Madsen of Denmark, who had taken fifth in 1900, was competing again. None of the world champions competed.
Finland, Great Britain, Hungary, Sweden, and the United States made their debut in the event. Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Norway each made their second appearance.

## Competition format

The competition had each shooter fire 120 shots, 40 shots in each of three positions: prone, kneeling, and standing. The target was 1 metre in diameter, with 10 scoring rings; targets were set at a distance of 300 metres. Thus, the maximum score possible was 1200 points. Any rifle could be used, with an open fore sight and any kind of back sight; any ammunition not "of a dangerous character" could be used. Uninterrupted strings of 10 shots were fired. Unlike in the last Games the event was contested, there were no medals for the individual positions; further, the team event was separated from the individual competition.

## Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | | | | |
| Olympic record | Emil Kellenberger (SUI) | 930 | Paris, France | 5 August 1900 |
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Round |
| Saturday, 11 July 1908 | | Final |

## Results

Each shooter fired 120 shots at the target 300 metres distant. Forty shots were fired from each of three positions—standing, kneeling, and prone. Each hit could score between 1 and 10 points, with the highest possible score being 1200 points.
| Rank | Shooter | Nation | Score | Score | Score | Score |
| Rank | Shooter | Nation | Standing | Kneeling | Prone | Total |
| | Albert Helgerud | Norway | 277 | 292 | 340 | 909 |
| | Harry Simon | United States | 228 | 294 | 365 | 887 |
| | Ole Sæther | Norway | 272 | 284 | 327 | 883 |
| 4 | Gustav-Adolf Sjöberg | Sweden | 251 | 285 | 338 | 874 |
| 5 | Janne Gustafsson | Sweden | 265 | 283 | 324 | 872 |
| 6 | Julius Braathe | Norway | 257 | 291 | 303 | 851 |
| 7 | Axel Jansson | Sweden | 235 | 296 | 312 | 843 |
| 8 | Léon Johnson | France | 250 | 282 | 303 | 835 |
| 9 | Olaf Sæther | Norway | 240 | 291 | 299 | 830 |
| 10 | Jesse Wallingford | Great Britain | 201 | 303 | 324 | 828 |
| 11 | Maurice Blood | Great Britain | 201 | 290 | 334 | 825 |
| 12 | Per-Olof Arvidsson | Sweden | 236 | 277 | 310 | 823 |
| 13 | Georg Erdmann | Norway | 234 | 277 | 310 | 821 |
| 14 | Lars Jørgen Madsen | Denmark | 236 | 294 | 283 | 813 |
| 15 | Gustaf Adolf Jonsson | Sweden | 226 | 267 | 319 | 812 |
| 16 | Edward Green | United States | 190 | 276 | 326 | 792 |
| 17 | Voitto Kolho | Finland | 231 | 269 | 288 | 788 |
| 18 | Christian Pedersen | Denmark | 191 | 278 | 311 | 780 |
| 19 | Kolbjørn Kvam | Norway | 234 | 267 | 276 | 777 |
| 20 | Arthur Jackson | Great Britain | 187 | 249 | 335 | 771 |
| 21 | Hans Schultz | Denmark | 223 | 257 | 289 | 769 |
| 22 | Pieter van Waas | Netherlands | 188 | 285 | 295 | 768 |
| 23 | Fredrik Mossberg | Sweden | 174 | 288 | 299 | 761 |
| 24 | Olivius Skymoen | Norway | 206 | 240 | 314 | 760 |
| 25 | Paul Colas | France | 231 | 233 | 293 | 759 |
| 26 | Robert Hawkins | Great Britain | 189 | 273 | 301 | 752 |
| 26 | Per Olaf Olsen | Norway | 222 | 237 | 293 | 752 |
| 28 | Erik Ohlsson | Sweden | 174 | 271 | 306 | 751 |
| 29 | John Hession | United States | 176 | 233 | 337 | 746 |
| 30 | Frans Nässling | Finland | 221 | 244 | 268 | 733 |
| 31 | Maurice Lecoq | France | 196 | 280 | 254 | 730 |
| 32 | Piet ten Bruggen Cate | Netherlands | 216 | 238 | 271 | 726 |
| 33 | Niels Laursen | Denmark | 202 | 224 | 286 | 712 |
| 34 | André Angelini | France | 154 | 247 | 305 | 706 |
| 35 | Ernest Ista | Belgium | 169 | 232 | 300 | 701 |
| 36 | Fernand Rey | Belgium | 169 | 245 | 284 | 698 |
| 37 | Huvi Tuiskunen | Finland | 193 | 246 | 256 | 697 |
| 38 | Heikki Huttunen | Finland | 204 | 212 | 270 | 686 |
| 39 | Lauri Kolho | Finland | 171 | 236 | 265 | 672 |
| 40 | Henry Chaney | Great Britain | 140 | 240 | 291 | 671 |
| 41 | Emil Nässling | Finland | 204 | 234 | 219 | 657 |
| 42 | Poul Liebst | Denmark | 187 | 197 | 261 | 645 |
| 43 | Sándor Prokopp | Hungary | 144 | 236 | 247 | 627 |
| 44 | Gustaf Nyman | Finland | 200 | 166 | 249 | 615 |
| 45 | Karl Reilin | Finland | 217 | 174 | 193 | 584 |
| 46 | Heikki Hallamaa | Finland | 165 | 181 | 230 | 576 |
| 47 | Mathias Glomnes | Norway | — | 250 | 313 | 563 |
| 48 | Niels Christian Christensen | Denmark | 202 | — | 299 | 501 |
| 49 | Kálmán Móricz | Hungary | 122 | 179 | 189 | 490 |
| 50 | Ossian Jörgensen | Sweden | — | 112 | 308 | 420 |
| 51 | Lorents Jensen | Denmark | 46 | — | 275 | 321 |