Does the historic Chinese World Cup clean sweep threaten Korean dominance at 2026 Asian Games?

The first World Cup of 2026 saw a genuinely historic moment: only the second ever clean sweep of the women’s individual podium by a single nation, as the youthful Chinese trio of Zhu Jingyi,  Yu Qi, and Huang Yuwei – age 19, 18 and 21 respectively – did just that on top of winning the team and mixed team titles and handing Zhu a rare triple World Cup gold, pushing her to 4th in the world ranking. 

The only other clean sweep of the women's World Cup podium was achieved by the Korean team of Kang Chaeyoung, Choi Misun, and Ki Bo Bae back at the Shanghai World Cup in 2015. (It was Misun and Chaeyoung’s debut World Cup performance.)

Of course, the Chinese win in Puebla was achieved in the absence of a recurve squad from Korea, who are still selecting their frontline teams for the year. It shouldn't take away from an achievement that may add to the jitters in Jincheon in an Asian Games year, and it was also achieved without Li Jiaman, the most successful individual Chinese recurve woman in recent years. 

It's been said before, but it's difficult to overstate how important the Asian Games is to the big nations that contest it, in archery and many other sports. This year it will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan at the end of September and the beginning of October, with the archery competition held in the coastal city of Okazaki, Japan.

By far the biggest multi-sport event outside the Olympics, the last event, in Hangzhou, China in 2022 actually welcomed more athletes in total than the Games in Paris. Winning an Asian Games medal is almost as important as an Olympic medal – especially to the Korean archery team.

Korea's women have dominated the team event much as they have at the Olympics, although China's women won back in 1994 and have finished runner-up to Korea no less than six times.

It's tempting to wonder if this the year they go one better again. After the Korean women’s Olympic team run came perilously close to ending in Paris several times, we know it's possible – although as so often, they always seem to have just enough in the tank to get the job done. 

On the individual women's podium at the Asian Games, Zhang Xinyan was the most recent Chinese athlete to rewrite the script, winning gold in 2018. (Zhang is now shooting compound and made a memorable international debut at last year’s World Cup Final).

China's archers train in the warmth of tropical Hainan, sometimes known as 'China’s Hawaii’ which allows outdoor shooting all year round, as well as their field in Beijing, chosen apparently for its continuous and tricky winds – and claim a hard day might consist of 500 arrows.

The team in Puebla – who listed shopping, TikTok, billiards and fishing among their hobbies – were asked what made the difference, and replied, via a translator: ”We’re not that strong; we’re just very young and full of energy. Our success in this competition can largely be attributed to our unwavering execution.”

”It was a great experience [in Puebal]. We will continue to work hard like this in the future. We are still young, and we will face many challenges in the future. We always believe each other no matter what happened. Be brave and don't hesitate!”. 

Of course it's been speculated before that Korea's dominance of women’s recurve might be faltering, and they have returned again and again to deliver the goods where it mattered. But anyone who witnessed the performances in Puebla was left in no doubt that this young Chinese team are definitely capable of upsetting the apple cart.