Beginners guide to the 2027 Hyundai Indoor Archery World Series

As the nights draw in – or the days get longer, depending on which hemisphere you’re in – so does the Indoor Archery World Series.

As the name suggests, the competition is made up of several events at 18 metres that any archer in the world can enter, giving aspiring amateurs the chance to compete alongside the very best.

The size of each event and the number of ranking points on offer vary between three competition levels: 1000, 500 and 250. The season culminates with The Vegas Shoot, which will enter its 61st year in March 2027.

For example, an Indoor World Series 1000 tournament awards more ranking points and has a larger prize fund than a 500-point tournament.

The 2027 season also sees the return of the Indoor Archery World Series Finals, which will take place in Las Vegas on 14 March, alongside The Vegas Shoot. The top 16 archers in each of the four elite categories – recurve men, recurve women, compound men and compound women – at the end of the ranking season will qualify for the Finals.

That makes it the ninth event of the forthcoming Indoor World Series calendar, following the Swiss Open, GT Open in Luxembourg, Rio Indoor 250, I Archery Singapore Stage, Rushmore Rumble in the USA, Occitanie-Nîmes, Merida and, of course, The Vegas Shoot. The eight ranking events run from October 2026 to March 2027.

Brady Ellison, Victoria Sebastian, Mike Schloesser and Ella Gibson are the reigning elite champions from the 2026 season. The Finals will also offer prize money for the elite categories, while youth archers in recurve and compound have their own ranking and prize structure.

Winners of the elite categories can win CHF 5000 at the Finals, while the first-place prize for youth archers is CHF 1500.

Who’s competing?

Any archer who is a member of a national archery federation recognised by World Archery may participate in the Indoor World Series.

This means the events are open globally, giving amateurs the chance to shoot alongside elite competitors.

Rankings

There are two ranking lists for the 2027 Indoor World Series: elite and youth. The open ranking, which was part of the 2026 system, has been removed for 2027.

The elite ranking is based on points awarded according to final placing at each stage, with each athlete’s best three results across the season counting towards their ranking. It covers four categories: recurve men, recurve women, compound men and compound women. The top 16 archers in each category at the end of the ranking season qualify for the Finals in Las Vegas.

The youth ranking is based on points awarded according to final placing, using each athlete’s best three results across the season in under-21 events. The youth ranking covers under-21 recurve and compound categories.

The discipline

Indoor archery is the discipline of shooting at stationary circular targets over a short distance inside a building. It is a variation of target archery.

Recurve, compound and barebow archers usually shoot over a distance of 18 metres at three smaller versions of the traditional archery target arranged in a vertical line or triangle.

After 14 editions of the World Archery Indoor Championships, from 1991 to 2018, the event was removed from the calendar in favour of the Indoor Archery World Series, which is open to all archers, amateur and elite.

Divisions

Athletes at the Indoor Archery World Series compete in recurve, compound or barebow competitions, which correspond to the type of bow they use.

Recurve bows are the modern evolution of traditional bows. The limbs curve away from the archer at the top and bottom of the bow, which is what gives the ‘re-curve’ its name. The bows feature sights and stabilisers that help the archer to aim and release an arrow accurately.

Compound bows use a system of pulleys and cables, making them a more mechanically efficient and inherently accurate type of bow. The strength required to pull the bow is at its maximum at the start of the process, decreasing the further the bow is drawn back, which makes it easier to hold while aiming. Archers also use mechanical release aids and sights with magnified lenses to further increase accuracy.

Barebows use the same modern materials as recurve but do not allow accessories to aid in aiming or stabilisation. Archers shooting a barebow pull the string back to their face using their fingers, aim by looking down the length of the arrow and, upon release, the energy stored in the bent limbs transfers through the string and into the arrow, sending it downrange to the target.

Competition format

The international indoor circuit consists of individual events with two distinct phases: qualification and elimination.

The qualification phase consists of each archer shooting 60 arrows. Archers are ranked by their total score, with these rankings providing the seedings for the elimination brackets. The maximum number of archers who can advance is usually 32.

The elimination phase – or matchplay – consists of archers progressing through head-to-head brackets, one for each category, with the winner of each match advancing and the loser exiting until a final winner is decided. Recurve matches are decided using the set system, while compound matches are decided on cumulative score.

Targets

Archers at the Indoor World Series shoot over a distance of 18 metres at smaller versions of the traditional five-colour target face with 10 concentric scoring rings, measuring 40 centimetres in diameter. However, the outer five rings are usually removed, except for barebow, and each target consists of three separate spots so that archers can avoid damaging their arrows.

Recurve archers shoot at a target face measuring 40 centimetres in diameter, with a 10-ring measuring 4 centimetres in diameter.

Compound archers shoot at a target face with identical proportions to the recurve face, except the 10-ring is halved in size, measuring 2 centimetres in diameter.

Barebow archers shoot at a full-size, single-spot target face with all 10 concentric scoring rings, measuring 40 centimetres in diameter. The 10-ring measures 4 centimetres in diameter.