Pistol shooter Joackim Norberg is one of Lapua’s sponsored shooters. Despite having a hectic schedule, Joackim hade the time to sit down and share his story with us.
Name: Joackim Norberg
Age: 47 years young
Hometown: Stockholm
Family: Vitor 16y and Rebecka 19y
Profession: Procurement Manager
How did you get started in shooting sports?
I have always been into sports, from soccer as a kid to badminton, running and snowboarding, to mountain-biking and boxing. But after a serious mountain bike accident 2006 which resulted in a nerve damage in my left shoulder and a more or less completely paralyzed left arm, my sporting activities were very limited. Therefore, in 2008 I started to play golf and in 2009 pistol shooting. And it became clear quite early that both my talent and passion was in pistol shooting, I loved it from day one.
Which are your shooting disciplines?
Internationally within IPC (International Paralympic Committee) Shooting I compete in Sport Pistol, Free Pistol and Air Pistol. These are my main disciplines. Nationally I also compete in Center Fire and Standard Pistol, some Swedish 25m disciplines like Precision, Military Rapid Fire and Field Target in different calibers.
Your top results this season?
Without doubt the Paralympic Silver in Sports Pistol from Rio. Together with my Gold at the 2014 IPC World Championship in the same disciplines that is my greatest accomplishments within pistol sports ever.
I´m also very satisfied with my Gold in Military Rapid Fire (.22) and Silver in Precision (.32) at the Swedish National Championship this summer.
What is the most challenging thing about your disciplines?
I think all pistol disciplines have their own challenges, even though the routine within the different precision disciplines are similar. That is also why I enjoy Sports Pistol so much, which has both a precision and a rapid part. So, to make it to the finals in Sport Pistol you need to master both the precision and rapid part.
What Lapua ammunition do you use?
Lapua OSP is my favorite for Sport Pistol and Pistol King for Free Pistol.
What is coming up next for you – do you have any main goals for next season?
Within IPC Shooting there is no championship 2017, so next international goal is IPC World Championship 2018 in Korea, which is also the first competition to gain a quota for the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo. So my plan for 2017 is to continue to work on my shooting technique and competition skills at the Swedish Championships and maybe ISCH in Hannover and some other international competition, but especially to “reload” mentally for the WC 2018 and Pralympics 2020.
Do you have other hobbies outside shooting? What’s your favourite sport?
Outside shooting I´m a hugh fan of soccer, especially my favorite Swedish team Hammarby. I go to all their home games and have seen them play via live streaming on my laptop from pretty much all countries I have visited. I´m also still enjoy playing golf and snowboarding, even though there haven been so much of it for a while.
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Photo: Martin Naucler
