From October 11 to 15, the Tyrolean military command brought together the best rifle and pistol shooters in the Austrian Armed Forces in East Tyrol. The 2021 army champions were sought in six disciplines.
In the individual shooting championships, the 77 assault rifle is used to shoot prone at a target 200 meters away. Ten rounds of precision and ten rounds of rapid fire decide who wins and who loses – 64 competitors took part in the men’s competition. The final of the ten best rifle shooters offered plenty of excitement. It was won by Captain Angelo Breitfuß from the Buchberg Army Ammunition Plant with 195 rings in his first appearance at an army championship.
With the same number of rings, but fewer tens, Vice-Lieutenant Alois Steinwender from Jäger Battalion 8 took second place. Major Martin Fetz from the Vienna Military Command came third in this ranking. In the women’s competition, victory also went to the Army Ammunition Center Buchberg: With 190 rings, platoon leader Sylvia Papernigg won ahead of corporal Kerstin Kruisz and sergeant Lisa Capellari, both from the Army Troop School. Athletes, ten-shot pistols, precision targets and a distance of 25 meters: that’s all it takes to determine the army champion in pistol shooting. Colonel Daniel Heiderer from Jäger Battalion 12 coped best with the conditions this year, emerging from the strong field of participants as the 2021 Army Champion with 94 rings. Major Peter Puchberger from the 4th Armored Infantry Brigade Command was four rings behind in second place. Lieutenant Colonel Christian Bachmann from Pioneer Battalion 1 took third place with 87 rings.
In the women’s competition, there was no way around Constable Lisa Capellari from the Army Troop School. With 77 rings, she came out on top against her competitors. Second place went to platoon leader Sylvia Papernigg from the Buchberg Army Ammunition School and third place to corporal Kerstin Kruisz – also from the Army Troop School. 14 teams competed for the championship title in team shooting. As in the previous year, the team from Vorarlberg demonstrated the best combination of speed, precision, concentration and camaraderie: Vice-Lieutenant Fritz Heidenkummer, Vice-Lieutenant Michael Penz, Vice-Lieutenant Michael Mathis and Vice-Lieutenant Gerhard Krimbacher are the 2021 Army Champions. After a 200-meter run and 40 shots fired, the team scored 373 rings. None of the other teams could keep up with this result. Only two rings behind, silver went to the Salzburg 1 team. The second team from Salzburg also achieved 371 rings and thus third place. Team shooting with the pistol: Four soldiers run a 200-meter course and then shoot ten times with a pistol at targets 25 meters away. All in three minutes. The prize is the army championship title. This year, the team from Burgenland secured this title. Led by the military commander of Burgenland, Brigadier Gernot Gasser, Vice Lieutenant Werner Duschanek, Vice Lieutenant Martin Hanakamp and the now six-time army champion, Deputy Officer Josef Hatos, achieved 306 rings together with him. With the same number of rings, but fewer tens, the team from the Vienna Military Command took second place. Third place went to the team from Carinthia with 293 rings.
The individual results of the pistol and rifle shooting were used to determine the army champion in “total shooting”. Lieutenant Colonel Christian Bachmann (Pioneer Battalion 1) secured this title for the men with a twelfth and third place. In the women’s competition, platoon leader Sylvia Papernigg from the Buchberg Army Ammunition Station also secured the overall championship title with a second place (pistol) and a championship title (rifle).
