Athletics 3D creates first one-piece, printed biathlon stock
Using only metal additive manufacturing to limit mass and increase absorption
Athletics 3D, a French company that designs and manufactures personalized sporting equipment using 3D printing technology, has created the first one-piece biathlon stock – using only metal additive manufacturing.
According to Athletics 3D, the “personalized biathlon rifle is a one-piece stock, unbreakable for practice use and resistant to falls. It is oriented with a goal of limited mass while having rigidity in the 3 axes with a dimension of absorption of harmonics during firing.”
Athletics 3D was founded by former high-level biathlete, 2009 Youth World Champion, member of the French teams, and Grenoble INP Engineer graduate, Clément Jacquelin, where he married his two passions – high-level sporting and industrial engineering – into an offering that now helps support the needs of athletes in an array of different domains.
An example of Athletics 3D’s previous projects includes when Florian Jouanny, an almost completely paralyzed triathlete, was frustrated by the limitations of his equipment during the infamous Ironman Triathlon and started looking for solutions and materials that would better prepare him for the race.
Florian Jouanny turned to Athletics 3D’s printing capabilities to solve his challenges. One of these is the challenge of holding and grasping items – such as the handles of his hand-bike. The company designed and printed the solution to this – enabling Florian Jouanny to take advantage of his strength by helping him move his hands forward and giving him more power to drive the wheelchair. Following this, Florian Jouanny was able to print his own handles, using the file supplied by Athletics 3D.
The printing of the one-piece biathlon stock is by no means the first time that the comapny has catered to this demographic of athletes. Currently, the company has multiple different 3D printed rifle parts available to athletes. For example, the ergonomic standing block piece for Athletics 3D and Sanseigne stock – offering more stability than the standard block.
