Kim Woojin smashes qualifying world record at national championships with 709

Olympic Champion Kim Woojin set a new world record of 709 points out of a maximum of 720 in the 70 metre 72-arrow round at a Korean national championship on 15 September. 

The monumental score is still officially subject to ratification.

The score was shot in qualifying at the 57th National All-Star Archery Tournament, held at the Jinho International Archery Field in Yecheon, where the second stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup was held in 2024.

Woojin’s first half score was 355 with 31 tens and 11 Xs, followed by a second half of 354 also with 31 tens and 11 Xs. He achieved the feat despite shooting an eight in the back half. 

The score destroyed the previous world record of 702, set by Brady Ellison at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games. Both halves were also higher than the 36 arrow record of 353 set by Oh Jin Hyek at a national tournament in 2015. 

Woojin did not go on to win the tournament, as he was beaten in the quarterfinals 7-3 by high school student Choi Cheol-jun, who would eventually take bronze. The gold medal was won by Woojin’s Olympic teammate Kim Je Deok. 

The championships are open to national team members, the best high school and university students and any athlete on Korea’s professional teams who can shoot the minimum qualifying score of 1327 for men or 1351 for women on a 144-arrow round.

In a sign of the extraordinary strength in depth in Korean recurve archery – and the ideal conditions required to achieve record-breaking scores – the top 12 men in the competition all shot 690 or above. In third place with 696 was Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Ku Bonchan, who remains a full-time professional in Korea.

The best women’s score was shot by reigning Olympic Champion Lim Sihyeon with 687. All the top 12 women shot rounds of 680 or above.

Korean archers hold many of the outdoor recurve world records, and Woojin also holds the men’s record for a 1440 round with 1391, set back in 2014.

The most legendary and enduring record of all is the score of 1405 shot by Park Sung-Hyun at a national tournament in 2004, which has stood for almost 21 years.