Abstract The purpose of the paper is to investigate X73MnSiAlNbTi25-1-3 high manganese austenitic steel containing 0.73% C to determine structural mechanisms decisive for increasing a reserve of cold deformation energy of such steel. The influence of a strain rate on the structure of the investigated steels and on the structural mechanisms decisive for their properties was analysed. Specialist research instrumentation was used for this purpose such as Scanning Transmission Microscopy (including EBSD examinations), conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy together with diffraction examinations and metallographic examinations. It was found that the principal cause of an increased reserve of cold deformation energy of the investigated steels in dynamic conditions is the activation of mechanical twinning in the mutually intersecting systems in austenite grains and annealing twins, which are densifying when a cold deformation rate is growing, thereby confirming the basic mechanism of TWIP (TWinning Induced Plasticity).