The sun dips behind the trees a little earlier these days. As you draw your bow, you feel the nip in the air. It’s almost time to say goodbye to summer and hello to fall. Students are returning to school, and football will soon be on every TV. But autumn isn’t just pigskin season. You can also watch plenty of archery tournaments to get your blood pumping.
These competitions are inspiring and exciting. They feature the world’s best archers competing head to head in individual and team events. They’ve trained for years, shooting tens of thousands of arrows leading up to this day. And once the big competition arrives, each arrow shot gets them one step closer – or further – from a win.
Let’s review some exciting tournaments to catch this fall:
World Archery Championships and Pan American Games – U.S. Team Trials
Dublin, Ohio
Aug. 24 to 26
This event, also called the Buckeye Classic, is part of USA Archery’s U.S. Team Trials. These archers are competing for a win and trying to land a spot on the U.S. archery team. The tournament features a 72-arrow qualification round and an elimination round the next day.
World Archery Field Championship
Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy
Sept. 4 to 9
Watching professionals play golf on TV can be exciting, and the scenery is usually breathtaking. Field archery is similar to golf in that archers compete on stunning courses that feature many challenges. Field archery features varying distances and steeply angled shots. Half the targets are marked for distance and the other half are not.
This year’s World Archery Field Championships are in Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, a small town in the Southern Alps. Forbes magazine called it “The ultimate town for all four seasons.” Athletes shoot 48 targets over two days for qualification scores, with the qualifiers advancing to head-to-head matches. Archers compete in compound, recurve or barebow categories, and as individuals and teams.
NFAA Outdoor National Target
Yankton, South Dakota
Sept. 15 to 16
The National Field Archery Association’s Outdoor National Target Championships are a two-day event. The competitors shoot a NFAA 900 round the first day and a NFAA Classic 600 round the second day.
Archery World Cup Final
Samsun, Turkey
Sept. 29 to 30
The Hyundai Archery World Cup Final features the world’s best archers. These finals are preceded by four qualifying stages held across the world. The seven qualifiers in each division then compete in Samsun, Turkey, to determine the world champions. The Archery World Cup Final features four categories: men and women in recurve and compound.
Here’s a breakdown on the competition from World Archery:
Recurve Men:
Qualified: Lee Woo Seok (W, 1), Kim Woojin (W, 2), Mauro Nespoli (W), Steve Wijler, Brady Ellison, Mete Gazoz (W) and Taylor Worth.
Woojin, the defending Hyundai Archery World Cup Final champion, won Stage 1 in a rematch of the title contest against Ellison at the end of 2017. He then lost the Antalya final to teammate Lee. Samsun is Ellison’s ninth Hyundai Archery World Cup Final. It’s the first one for Gazoz, Worth and Lee.
Recurve Women:
Qualified: Chang Hye Jin (W, 1), Ksenia Perova (W), Deepika Kumari (W), Tan Ya-Ting, Lei Chien-Ying, Lisa Unruh and Lee Eun Gyeong (W, 2)
Olympic Champion Jin and World Archery Champion Perova go head to head in Samsun. The final also includes Unruh, an Olympic silver medalist, and Kumari, the icon of Indian archery. The women’s recurve will be fun to watch!
Compound Men
Qualified: Mike Schloesser (W, 1), Kim Jongho (W), Stephan Hansen (W), Braden Gellenthien (2), Abhishek Verma, Kris Schaff and Pierre-Julien Deloche
Gellenthien is the defending Hyundai Archery World Cup Final champion and, despite not winning a stage, accrued the second-most ranking points of any male compound archer after taking bronze medals in Shanghai and Antalya – and fourth in Salt Lake City. Schloesser and Hansen are two of the best.
Compound Women
Qualified: Sara Lopez (W, 1), Yesim Bostan (W), Sophie Dodemont (W, 2), Linda Ochoa-Anderson, So Chaewon, Chen Yi-Hsuan and Marcella Tonioli
Lopez is the athlete to watch. She only shot two stages of the international tour – Shanghai and Salt Lake City – but won both. The defending and three-time winner of the Archery World Cup Final is chasing Ellison for the most all-time wins (four) if she wins Samsun.
Youth Olympic Games
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Oct. 12 to 17
The Youth Olympic Games in Argentina will host nearly 4,000 athletes from around the world. These top-notch archers are 15 to 18 years old. A total of 64 archers – 32 boys and 32 girls – will compete in the Games. The categories will be boys’ recurve individual, girls’ recurve individual and mixed international.
IFAA North American Field Archery Championship
Chino, California
Nov. 10 to 11
The IFAA North American Field Archery Championship features 28 field targets and 28 animal targets the first day. During the second day, competitors shoot 28 hunting targets. The men’s and women’s divisions feature pro, adult, senior and junior categories in several bow categories.
How to Watch
Coverage of these events is available on:
Competition Archery Media/Lancaster Archery Supply YouTube
Watching these top archers can be insightful and inspiring. After watching them compete, visit an archery shop to sharpen your skills while learning about leagues and nearby tournaments.
