Watch the NATO tank competition where the US lost to Austria and Germany

Austria, which didn't participate last year, took gold, while Germany came in second. The US came in third, but given the purpose of the challenge, that's nothing to be ashamed of.

"This is a competition, but it's not really about the competition," Sgt. Maj. David Glenn, 7th Army Training Command's operations senior noncommissioned officer, said in a US Army statement. "It's really about training, partnership, esprit de corps, and interoperability."

Because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine — one of the participating states — the competition takes on an air of seriousness beyond a medal or ranking. Russian forces in eastern Europe outnumber deployed NATO forces in the region, and the US has sought to bolster the smaller European states with ground forces and even F-35s.

See how the NATO and the Ukraine push themselves to stand ready against the looming threat of Russia:

Here's the Austrian Leopard 2A4 tank that ended up taking gold.

Crew: Four soldiers

Armament: 120 mm smoothbore, 2x 7.62 mm

Speed: 45 mph

Range: 310 miles

Length: 32 feet

Weight: 62.5 tons

Here's the German tank that competed, the Leopard 2A6.

Crew: Four soldiers

Armament: 120 mm smoothbore, 2x 7.62 mm

Speed: 42 mph

Range: 310 miles

Length: 36 feet

Weight: 62 tons

Poland brought the Leopard 2A5.

Crew: Four soldiers

Armament: 120 mm smoothbore, 2x 7.62 mm

Speed: 45 mph

Range: 310 miles

Length: 32 feet

Weight: 62.5 tons

France brought its domestically built Leclerc tank.

Crew: Three soldiers

Armament: 120 mm smoothbore, 1 x 12.7 mm, 1 x 7.62 mm

Speed: 45 mph

Range: 340 miles

Length: 32 feet

Weight: 57 tons

Ukraine brought the only Soviet-designed tank, the T-64BM, an update of a much older model that lacks some of NATO's newer technology but is battle hardened. Ukraine's T-64BM boasts a bigger main gun to pierce modern tank armor and was the only tank at the competition that brought explosive reactive armor plating, as it's used regularly against Russian separatists.

Crew: Three soldiers

Armament: 125 mm smoothbore, 1 x 12.7 mm, 1 x 7.62 mm<

Speed: 37 mph

Range: 310 miles

Length: 30 feet

Weight: 45 tons

Then there's the US's standby, the M1A2 Abrams. The Abrams was designed in the 1970s and has had some roaring successes in battle, but the competition has been catching up.

Crew: Four soldiers

Armament: 120 mm smoothbore, 12.7 mm, 2x 7.62 mm

Speed: 41 mph on road, 25 mph off road

Range: 240 miles

Length: 32 feet

Weight: 62 tons

Like at any good military competition, there was an obstacle course.

But this is the so-called tank Olympics, so soldiers had to carry heavy tank rounds and ammo around the course.

Crew members had to dismount their tanks to engage several targets during the combat pistol shoot-off at Grafenwoehr Training Area.

Then the tanks faced off in an obstacle course of their own, though they seemed less concerned about the obstacles.

Here's Ukraine's battle-tested tank sounding off at the range.

But it's not all shooting — soldiers train for realistic battle scenarios, like having to repair a tank tread ...

... or taking care of the wounded — in this case, dummies.

In a way, everyone won, because NATO and the Ukraine improved their interoperability and ability to defeat or deter Russian aggression. But in a precise way, Austria won, Germany came in second, and the US was third. Better luck next year.