– You are afraid of the recoil and the bang, even if it is not dangerous. It’s in the head. There is something in the head that says this is dangerous and hurts, but it doesn’t, says Larsen. Last summer, the 24-year-old even finished in 9th place and just outside the final in the rifle heilmatch in the Olympics. In Tokyo, he led the qualification for a long time, but during the Landsskyttarstemnet (LS) this week, Larsen is more of a list filler. NO FLAP: Henrik Larsen had to watch the final in the rifle all-match in the Olympics from the stands. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB Larsen still with 228 points out of 250 possible in the initial range shooting in LS. He himself believes that at his best he is good enough for 240, which is still a good way up to a place in the royal team. In the previous national archery vote in 2019, you had to have 245 points to get one of the 15 places. – That sounds very strange. We train for about 25 hours a week and shoot in the blink of an eye, which is why it’s a bit strange that I can’t pull off in the middle here. Different weapons There is a big difference between the weapon Larsen normally uses and the one he uses during LS. In the OL he uses a lighter fine-caliber weapon, while in the LS a weapon for a coarser caliber (6.5-caliber) is used. It produces a bigger bang and more recoil (the movement of the weapon backwards after the trigger). In addition, the hood itself is significantly heavier. – When I come here and I’m going to shoot roughly, I’m anxious to get into the flash. That’s not how you should shoot. You should be relaxed when you shoot, says Larsen to news. – I’m scared to death. I can stand and aim in the embankment, or in a thicket next to the discs, and then it’s perfectly fine to pull off without a problem. But as soon as the black mark comes into the caution, there is one thing or another you are fooling around with, which means that you are unable to pull off in the middle. Then there are not many points. Sambuar Jeanette Hegg Duestad is, like Larsen, one of the world’s best with a fine caliber rifle. She also participated in the Olympics last summer. But unlike Larsen, Duestad is also skilled with coarser calibers, and she is one of the big favorites to walk away with the King’s Cup. – I have managed to keep the 6.5 shooting a little more at about every year. So I guess I’m quite lucky to be able to cope with that transition quite easily, she says. ROOMMATES: Henrik Larsen discussed the shooting with roommate Jeanette Hegg Duestad. Photo: Oddvar Sagbakken Saanum / news Grow up with the National Shooting Society Larsen has not always struggled as much with coarse-caliber shooting. Like so many other Norwegian shooters, he started his shooting life in a shooting team under the Voluntary Volunteer Service (DFS), which organizes the National Shooting Association. Even as an 11-year-old in 2009, he took part in his first LS in Evje. At LS, coarse caliber is required, but in 2013, when he was to start as a student at Norges Toppidrettsgymnaset, Larsen put away the coarse caliber weapon to focus on aerial and match shooting. The bullet fear didn’t come right away. The following year, Larsen was actually second in the junior class in field shooting at the Landsskyttarstemnet in Sandnes. – But when I came towards the autumn of 2015 again, I felt that there was one thing or another that was different. Then I wasn’t as tough on the trigger, and couldn’t stand there and squeeze, he says. – There has been too little coarse-caliber shooting, and then you have been scared of bullets, quite simply. Lunde: – The whole body pulls together news’s shooting expert Ola Lunde says it is not unusual for shooters to struggle with being shoe-weary, but thinks it is strange that such a good shooter should struggle so much. STRANGE: news’s shooting expert thinks it is strange that such a good shooter can struggle so much. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB – Something is happening to him. He was a very good recruit shooter, and then suddenly he can’t pull the trigger. It’s like the whole body is pulling together. This results in very poor shots. – What do you think is the reason? – The point is that he has not seen anything special about it. If he had trained hard and shot 10,000 shots with a 65, he would probably have been pretty good at it too. But he has chosen to focus on international shooting. PS! news broadcasts from the Landsskyttarstemnet in Bodø on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The broadcast on Tuesday starts at 3 p.m.
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