How the shooting world ranking works
How does a shooter climb the world ranking?
By finishing high at ISSF championships. Each championship awards ranking points by finishing place, and a shooter's ranking is the total of their four best championship results in that event over the last 365 days.
How many points a place is worth depends on how big the championship was, and at most of them, on how many shooters took part:
- an Olympic gold is worth 4,000;
- a World Championship gold 3,000;
- a World Cup gold, in an event with 50 or more shooters, 2,000;
- a Grand Prix gold, in a field of 50 or more, 500.
An event with fewer than 15 shooters gives no points at all.
The ISSF publishes the ranking on the first of every month.
For Los Angeles 2028 there is a second list, the Olympic Ranking, which adds up a shooter's ten best results at Olympic qualifying competitions between 31 July 2026 and 1 May 2028. It works alongside the qualification system.
The one thing to remember: a shooting ranking is the sum of four results, so one big final can lift a shooter a long way, and it falls away again 365 days later.
Two rankings
| World Ranking | Olympic Ranking (LA28) | |
|---|---|---|
| Results that count | ISSF championships in the last 365 days | ISSF Olympic qualifying competitions between 31 July 2026 and 1 May 2028 |
| How many count | The four best, by ranking points, in each event | The ten best, by ranking points, in each event |
| Competitions | Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cups, Grand Prix, continental games and championships | The same, without the Olympic Games |
| Published | The first of every month | The first of every month |
The events
Twelve events are ranked, the Olympic individual events: 10m air rifle, 50m rifle three positions, 10m air pistol, trap and skeet for men and women, plus 25m rapid fire pistol (men) and 25m pistol (women).
When a result starts and stops counting
All the events of one championship are dated by its last competition day. They count from the next monthly ranking for 365 days. The ISSF's example: a championship whose last day is 31 May counts from the ranking of 1 June to the ranking of 1 May the following year.
The points tables
Four tables, by the level of the championship. The Olympic and World Championship tables have one scale. The other two have three columns, by the number of shooters in the event: 50 or more, 30 or more, 15 or more.
| Place | Olympic Games | World Championships | World Cup, or continental championship that gives Olympic places (50+ / 30+ / 15+) | Grand Prix, or continental championship that gives no Olympic places (50+ / 30+ / 15+) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 4,000 | 3,000 | 2,000 / 1,000 / 500 | 500 / 250 / 100 |
| 2nd | 3,500 | 2,625 | 1,750 / 880 / 440 | 440 / 220 / 88 |
| 3rd | 3,000 | 2,250 | 1,500 / 760 / 380 | 380 / 190 / 76 |
| 4th | 2,500 | 1,875 | 1,250 / 640 / 320 | 320 / 160 / 64 |
| 5th | 2,300 | 1,725 | 1,150 / 588 / 295 | 295 / 147 / 59 |
| 6th | 2,100 | 1,575 | 1,050 / 536 / 270 | 270 / 134 / 54 |
| 7th | 1,900 | 1,425 | 950 / 484 / 245 | 245 / 121 / 49 |
| 8th | 1,700 | 1,275 | 850 / 432 / 220 | 220 / 108 / 44 |
| 9th | 1,400 | 1,050 | 700 / 348 / 170 | 174 / 87 / 34 |
| 10th | 1,360 | 1,026 | 684 / 332 / 145 | 170 / 83 / 29 |
Places 1 to 8 are the final; points drop sharply from 8th to 9th, the first place outside it. The tables go on to 30th at the Olympics and 50th elsewhere (15th in the smallest fields, 30th in fields of 30 or more).
A continental championship or games uses the World Cup table if it hands out Olympic quota places, and the Grand Prix table if it does not.
Shooting for ranking points only (RPO)
At championships other than the World Championships, a country can enter five shooters in an individual event, but only three can shoot the final. The other two shoot for ranking points only, and the country must name them before the event. If an RPO shooter's qualification score would have put them in the final, they are placed straight after the finalists and get the points for 9th; their place in the final goes to the next eligible shooter.
Ties
Two shooters with the same total share the same position.
A worked example
Made up to show the arithmetic. In the last 365 days a pistol shooter has finished 2nd at a World Cup (an event of 60 shooters), 5th at the World Championships, 1st at a Grand Prix (40 shooters), 12th at a World Cup (55 shooters) and 3rd at the continental championship, which gave Olympic places (35 shooters).
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| World Championships, 5th | 1,725 |
| World Cup, 2nd (50+) | 1,750 |
| World Cup, 12th (50+) | 652 |
| Continental championship with Olympic places, 3rd (30+) | 760 |
| Grand Prix, 1st (30+) | 250 |
Only the four best count: 1,750 + 1,725 + 760 + 652 = 4,887. The Grand Prix win does not count until it is one of the best four.
Where to see it
issf-sports.org, World Ranking, published on the first of each month.
Variations
| Ranking | Covered here |
|---|---|
| World Ranking, 12 individual Olympic events | Yes |
| Olympic Ranking for LA28 | Yes, in outline; how it is used is on the shooting qualification page |
| Junior and non-Olympic events | No |
| Para shooting (WSPS) | No: its own page |