Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 162 i Bow International

So barely a few months after we explored the apparent kiboshing of compound’s Olympic hopes for 2028 (in Bow 160), World Archery threw a spanner in the works by unexpectedly announcing that an application had been made to include compound as an event for the Games in Los Angeles. Of the several scenarios possible, it appears it has pitched an indoor competition featuring the top 16 men and women in the world, most likely to be held in the shooting venue after the conclusion of the shooting events. A confirmation of whether a compound event will be held will likely appear sometime next year. World Archery is keeping quiet for now about the slightly unexpected change in direction, but perhaps something has shifted behind the scenes in LA or Lausanne…

Hazel Taylor and David Phillips took home a silver medal from the mixed team recurve competition in the first leg of the Para Archery European Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic in July. Phillips claimed bronze in the men’s team final with Cameron Radigan, beating Thailand 5-1. “It’s more exciting that the whole team is coming home with at least one medal each. I’m truly honoured to be a part of something so special,” said Phillips. Victoria Kingstone and Martin Saych faced the team from Czech Republic in the W1 open mixed team gold match. Victoria and Martin finished on 130-137 to come away with the silver. “It feels wonderful to have won my first ever medal with Martin. The fact that everyone medalled today is testament to the hard…

No one in Europe has quite the medal collection of Lisa Unruh. The 34-year-old finally shot to fame in her home country by taking individual silver at the Rio 2016 Olympics, but she had already made her mark on the sport. She was World Field Champion twice, taking individual gold in 2014 and 2018, as well as team gold in 2018. She took mixed silver at the outdoor World Championships in 2017, and World Games gold that same year. There were the five medals at the Europeans, and 11 World Cup medals over almost a decade. She was also individual Indoor World Champion in 2016, but had more in store last year when the German women’s team took bronze at the Tokyo Olympics; she followed that with a surprise victory…

Katharina Bauer has had an incredible start to the 2022 season, medalling at every international event she has attended so far. She won gold at the pre-season Spring Arrows tournament, then took individual bronze at the Antalya World Cup and the European Championships, along with team gold in Munich and mixed-team gold in Gwangju, part of a surge in German recurve talent that is seeing them at the business end of almost every major meet. YOU’VE HAD AN INCREDIBLE START TO THE YEAR. HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR IT? During the past few years I have increased my arrow volume a lot. I think that I am benefiting from that work now. I work a lot with our national head coach, Oliver Haidn, and he helped me to be perfectly…

To be able to push past plateaus in your archery it is important to look after your back muscles. Check out Bow 161 for an article on my favourite back exercises, but today I want to focus on rows and their variations. Most people are familiar with the rowing machine, found in almost every gym, and it is excellent for giving you a full-body workout, focused slightly more on your legs. It’s a low-impact exercise and will increase your cardiovascular endurance, so is excellent in almost every respect. Here, however, we are focusing on rowing with weights in order to develop the back muscles and strengthen your shot. Archery is an upper-body sport (apart from the few para-archers who use their legs), and so for many of us will help…

The Olympic Games features recurve teams of three: 12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams. Over recent Olympic cycles, 11 of the 12 team quota spots were available over just two events, the main one being the first team round at the preceding world championships, between the top 16 countries in the world. Three more places were available at the final qualifying event (aka the ‘last chance saloon’) usually held at the last World Cup event before the Olympics. The last three places are reserved for the host nation. From Paris onwards, the number of team places available at the world championships has been reduced from eight to three – the three teams that finish on the podium. Five more team spots will instead be awarded to the continental team…

Compound is formally being considered for inclusion on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games sports schedule, alongside recurve. The World Archery proposal calls for an additional indoor competition for men, women and mixed teams that would run roughly three days and be shorter than the nine-day Olympic schedule currently in place. It is thought, but not confirmed, that this event will take place in the same venue used for rifle and pistol shooting. Building on the professional indoor archery circuit that is already well established in the USA, the host country of the next Games after Paris 2024, competition over 18m inside would clearly differentiate the two events from the 70m outdoor recurve format. The event will have a focus on “precision, tension and perfection.” Before making a judgement, the…

After a successful Run Archery test event in the UK, a second opportunity is being planned for 11 September in Birmingham. A trial run of Run Archery was organised by Archery GB in April, bringing together a small group of archers in Newark. As the name suggests, it is a shooting sport that combines running with archery, similar to biathlon. It offers a different archery experience that it is hoped might aid the sport in retaining and attracting both archers and runners. Shooting takes place over 18m, with archers carrying the bow either in their hands or in a harness. Recurve bows are used and the draw weight is limited to 35lb maximum. This second pilot event will introduce the ‘sprint’ version of the sport. To grow the discipline’s popularity…

It seems strange to have four full World Cups again, after curtailed seasons in the last two years. Paris, that grandest of cities, saw a sleeper awaken in Marcus D’Almeida of Brazil. Hyped beyond his capacity at his home Games in Rio as the “Neymar of archery”; he finally, finally, after what seems like dozens of near misses and silver medals, took individual gold at a major international competition. On the way there, he beat reigning Olympic Champion Mete Gazoz, the London 2012 Olympic Champion Oh Jin Hyek and the noisy young wunderkind of the Korean squad, Kim Je Deok, in back-to-back-to-back matches. It took a shootoff to do it, but his arrow was perfect. “This is my moment. I am so proud of where I am,” he understated afterwards.…

Some time ago, US manufacturer Shrewd – best known, perhaps, for its compound scopes – released a new stabiliser system. With the very thin, small-diameter Revel series, Shrewd made a breakthrough and achieved a significantly higher level of recognition in Europe. Shortly afterwards, it released another stabiliser system, the RevX. This has been around for a couple of years, with celebrity users including Brady Ellison. The RevX is slightly wider compared with the Revel, with a diameter of 16mm, and is available in lengths from 8inch to 36inch. The bars are completely black, with matt black sleeves. Fans of minimal logos will be pleased to see that the STS carbon itself is without lettering, but you can add the Shrewd sticker included in the package. Also included are weights: a…

Forty-one years ago, the first World Games were held in Santa Clara, California. Under the banner of global sports federation behemoth GAISF, it was originally conceived as an event for sports that were not represented at the Olympics. Of the original programme at that event, badminton, baseball and softball, taekwondo, trampolining and karate all later became full Olympic sports. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing. At the time, the US Olympic Committee president Philip Krumm called the games “a splinter group” and “harmful”, and the World Games retained a uneasy relationship with the IOC for many decades, which still flares up from time to time. More recently, the World Games have been fully welcomed into the Olympic family and the events are broadcast on the Olympic Channel. Archery has been…

I was invited to visit the Olympic national team training grounds on their range, adjacent to the Wingate Institute, situated in the coastal city of Netanya, near Tel Aviv. It was great to catch up with the newly appointed national coach, Richard Priestman, and his new team. Israel had just returned from the European Championships in Munich, to catch up on a few days of practice before flying out to the World Cup in Paris. I was also fortunate to meet and speak to a very busy Guy Matzkin, perhaps the best-known figure in Israeli archery. Guy’s main professional activity within the sport is now focused on psychology, and he is currently working on a book addressing the psychological demands of archery. Watch this space – it should be very…

LOOKS ARE IMPORTANT Firstly, if you really like the look of the bow – go for it! This may not sound like the most professional piece of advice but, strangely, it works. Ask any traditional archer what their initial attraction to their bow was, and they will undoubtedly talk of the beauty of the curves, the simplicity of design, the natural and historical aspects of their archery equipment and practice. As humans, we find traditional archery to be an organic activity, and liking the way our tools feel and look is an important part of that. Comments such as: “Traditional bows are difficult to manage”, “Thumb draw technique is painful”, and, my favourite, “You will never be as consistent on the target”, are merely statements of discouragement made by those…

Bow drills, bow holds, reversals: whatever you call them, this is one of the best ways to improve your strength without having to spend hours at the range every day. Many archers know this, yet anecdotal evidence suggests that very few archers do so. By some professional estimates, more than 90% of the archery population is not actually fit to shoot their bow, resulting in a lower standard of performance than they would otherwise be capable of. More pertinently, just shooting a lower poundage does not get around the underlying flaw. Being able to fully control your body while handling your bow, for a large number of shots and over an extended period of time, is a prerequisite for good performance in recurve archery. Some top compounders use an old…

THREE EASY WAYS TO SUBSCRIBE: 1. COMPLETE THE FREEPOST COUPON OPPOSITE 2. ONLINE AT MAGAZINESDIRECT.COM/A17N ENJOY THESE GREAT SUBSCRIBER BENEFITS • NO NEED TO GO TO THE SHOPS WITH CONVENIENT HOME DELIVERY• SUBSCRIBE FROM JUST £6.50• YOU'RE IN CONTROL – MANAGE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION ONLINE GO DIGITAL Instant access on your iPad, iPhone and Android device Visit magazinesdirect.com/A17N for digital subscriptions and pricing 3. CALL 0330 333 1113 QUOTE CODE: A17N Lines open Monday to Friday, 8:30am-7pm GREAT VALUE Pay by direct debit Automatic renewal – never miss an issue □ Print only: Pay only £6.50 every 3 months□ Digital only: Pay only £6.75 every 3 months□ Print & Digital: Pay only £12.75 every 3 months Instruction to your bank or building society to pay by direct debit Originator’s reference 1…

It won fame and victory on the battlefields of the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), turned into a sporting device during the Renaissance, in the 19th century conquered the US, and is still being used and admired all around the world today: the English longbow has a long, rich history to look back on with pride. But what do we actually know about its origins and historical development – and what is it that makes a longbow English? Bows began to play a greater role in English military strategy in the 13th century, being used in increasing numbers in campaigns against the Welsh and the Scots. At about the same time, it also made more frequent appearances in stories and ballads, such as the earliest tales of Robin Hood, as the…