While it might not qualify as a renaissance, sport archery has reached its most popular standing with the public since it returned to the Olympics in 1972. High-profile athletes engaging fans on social media with their intimate vlogs that show just how hard an archer must work to remain at the top have exposed more people to the classic sport.
The arrival of the Internet in the mid-90s and its subsequent explosion in the mid-2000s led to more fans being exposed to archery, either through streaming highlight videos or accessibility to star players.
Now, a blossoming enthusiast just needs to know which events will showcase the highest levels of talent, to form a standard to appreciate future events. To help with that, below is a list of the seven most popular archery events and the types of archery equipment used in each, in no particular order.
Note that regardless of the type of bow, archers can use additional archery equipment, gear, and accessories: bowstring release devices, bow cases, scopes, etc.
- The Olympics – There is no higher level of sports competition than the Olympics, where legacies are made and destroyed on what is quite literally a world stage. Even events that may be considered secondary in their respective cultures get the opportunity to showcase at the ‘the games’.
- In the Olympics, archery competitions use the recurve bow for all competitions and follow the score of FITA rounds. Olympic archery is governed by the World Archery Federation, which was formerly called FITA (though the match rounds still bear the name).
- World Archery Championships – A product of the World Archery Federation, the Archery World Championships could be considered the most prestigious of the annual competitions. These competitions are usually where Olympic legends begin, and where world rankings are decided. World Archery Championships might even be a bigger draw than the Olympics for enthusiasts who crave variety. These include outdoor, indoor, and field versions of the competition, as well as competitions that use different archery equipment like the compound bow.
- Archery World Cup – The World Archery Foundation introduced this competition in 2006 as a way to boost the popularity of archery alongside the World Archery Championships. The World Cup came with a clear intent to modernize how archery is presented to the world, leveraging the rise of streaming Internet and exotic locations to improve its entertainment value. The pool of competition for this event is the same as the World Championships, so there’s usually no dropoff in the level of talent on display. The World Cup also uses both the recurve and compound bows in terms of archery equipment, giving it additional interest compared to the Olympics.
- Asian Games – The Asiad is the top level of competition exclusive to the eastern part of the world, and archery has been part of its roster since 1978 (8th Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand). Unsurprisingly, South Korea has dominated the archery competition in these games even more than the Olympics, winning the last ten. This is more indicative of Korea’s brilliance than lack of competition, however, as Japan, India, and China have archers among the top ten in World Rankings. Archery equipment used in these games includes both the recurve and compound bows.
- European Archery Championships – These games are popular because they are the most diverse among virtually any you can name. The European games include competitions for most of the official competition types: outdoor, indoor, field, 3-D, and ski archery. There are also groups to accommodate youth and para competitors where applicable, as well as university rules and crossbow competitions. The main archery equipment used in these games is the recurve and compound bows, but there are accommodations for the wheelchair-mounted bows used in para-archery, as well as specialized equipment for ski and 3-D competitions.
- Pan American Games – These outdoor games represent the western side of the world in terms of the big archery competitions. Competitions include men and women’s contents in recurve, compound, and barebow. Also noteworthy is the fact the games work closely with the International Olympic Committee, so they become part of the Olympic qualification trials every 4 years. Adding to the recurve competition, compound bows were given an even in 2017.
- The Vegas Shoot – Typical of American fanfare, the Vegas Shoot remains one of the biggest draws in archery. It is a field archery competition held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada, where thousands of archers from across the globe participate in a wide variety of events. These events cover virtually every conventional form of archery and some which are considered unconventional. The prize money of $10-15k is a substantial sum for a short stay, but it’s the thrill of winning out of a field of 4,000 archers that attracts the biggest names to this competition.
