New Zealand’s Harrison returns to Shanghai one year after spectating

One year ago, Julia Harrison was at her first Hyundai Archery World Cup, but not as an archer.

Visiting family from her mother’s side in China, Harrison made the effort to come down to the Yuanshen Sports Centre to watch the world’s best archers compete on the international circuit at Shanghai 2025.

Hailing from New Zealand, she also watched compatriots Hector McNeilly, Riku Van Tonder and Gary Coleman shoot in compound men.

This time, at Shanghai 2026 – the second stage of the season – Harrison returns with a recurve bow in hand.

“I spectated this event a little bit just to try and get a feel for it before getting to compete,” said the 26-year-old archer. “Day one it was pretty quiet, not all of the teams had made it here yet, but then day two you start seeing the Brady Ellisons, the Kim Woojins, the Korean team, all of these famous faces that you know from social media.”

“They’re all just there shooting next to you on the other target, having a laugh. It felt a bit more real at that point.”

Even just being in Shanghai as a participant is a huge win for Harrison and the ignition of a spark she hopes will burn all the way to the LA28 Olympic Games.

To have a chance of becoming New Zealand’s first Olympic recurve woman since Faye Johnstone at Barcelona 1992, Harrison needs to compete at a minimum number of World Cup stages should the country secure a quota place.

Due to budget constraints, Shanghai is her only stage this year, but the Christchurch resident is aiming to attend three or four next season.

Months before flying to China, Harrison started a Givealittle page to help cover costs for herself and coach James Gaze, setting a USD 7000 target. So far, she has raised USD 2270.

“I work full time, I have a mortgage, I have all of the bills that come with that, and I thought the funds were a little bit dicey coming here,” said Harrison. “So I thought I’d reach out to people and try and see if I can get some support from others because we don’t get so much support.”

“Being a small country, we don’t have much sponsorship for the sport. It would be really, really nice if people helped me to get here, but I can make it on my own.”

Working full time as a software engineer has also impacted Harrison’s training in previous years, but coming into Shanghai she has managed to rearrange her working hours to increase her arrow count and consistency.

Even that small boost, though, does not reduce the challenges she faces as an archer in the southern hemisphere.

While this year’s World Cup stages take place during summer in Mexico, China, Türkiye and Spain, New Zealand is approaching winter, with temperatures dropping in the months ahead rather than increasing.

The decreasing daylight for a sport that requires aiming at a target 70 metres away also presents its own difficulties.

“I try to get up early and get into the office early, work 7h30 till 15h30, and then run off to the range before I lose the evening light.”

“It’s made it a bit difficult this last month, really, when we’re really losing the sunlight in the evening, so I’m trying to take an extra hour off on the days that I have range access and then work the extra time back on the other days of the week when I don’t have range access.”

Hardly ideal, but with her appearance in Shanghai a year in the making, daylight alone was never going to stop her pursuit of becoming an Olympian.

For Harrison, much of the excitement in Shanghai comes from the novelty of the experience.

She has competed at Asia Cups, national and continental championships – winning the 2026 World Archery Oceania Target Championships last month – but shooting alongside Olympic and world medallists at a World Cup is something entirely new.

With more than 320 archers competing this week, the scale of the event is unlike anything she has experienced before.

Whatever may happen, Harrison sees Shanghai as a “benchmarking” opportunity to measure herself in an environment more comparable to LA28 than anything she has previously encountered.

Harrison recently increased her personal best by 50 points to 655, matching the New Zealand national record, a breakthrough she credits heavily to coach Gaze, although scores in the 670s remain her long-term target.

“I’ve suffered quite a bit from nerves in the past when competing at higher-level tournaments,” she said when asked what she hopes to gain from her maiden World Cup appearance. “You see all these famous people around you and want to do well, but maybe you’re too nervous, too shaky.”

“I really just want to soak up the atmosphere and try to shoot at my normal level.”

Shanghai 2026 has been a year in the making for Harrison – from spectator to shooting line – and her journey towards LA28 begins on Wednesday afternoon in recurve qualification.