Preview: Antalya set to host Archery World Cup’s 16th season opener

The wait is over, we’re into April and the international outdoor season is finally getting underway with the first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Antalya, Turkey next week.

Exactly 200 days after the last Hyundai Archery World Cup Final finished in Yankton – with Jack Williams delivering a perfect arrow to upset teammate Brady Ellison in a tiebreak in the recurve men’s final – the world’s best archers return to the elite competition circuit.

Ellison, the current world number one who won the last stage held in Antalya, back in 2019, will be looking to repeat on the Mediterranean shore, needing a fast start to the season having fallen behind legend Sara Lopez in all-time circuit trophies (six to five) with that loss to Williams.

Olympic Champion, world number two and home-country favourite Mete Gazoz, who finished third to the USA pair in Yankton last year, will have something to say about that, surely?

Compound men’s world number one Mike Schloesser – a three-time and the defending circuit champion – will also take to the field… but the recurve women’s line-up is less top-heavy.

France’s Lisa Barbelin, ranked six, enters Antalya the favourite. Number one An San is not travelling, number two Deepika Kumari failed to make the Indian selection, number three Elena Osipova is ineligible to compete due to Russia’s ban from international competition, number four Mackenzie Brown is now shooting compound and number five Alejandra Valencia part of a Mexican squad that is also giving the season opener a miss.

Antalya hosted a stage of the circuit for its first 14 seasons before a COVID-interrupted 2020 and instead holding the European Championships in 2021.

Key information

What’s happening? The first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup on 18-24 April 2022 in Antalya, Turkey.

What’s at stake? Stage winners automatically book a ticket for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in October.

What’s the story? Does anticipation get any better than the days before the international circuit starts? Probably not, but the nerves that archers from across the world have now, ahead of competition, will need to be managed if they are to deliver a strong start to this year’s tour and maybe, just maybe, take the opportunity to book a ticket to the Hyundai World Cup Final at the first time of asking.

Event schedule

• Tuesday 19 April: Compound qualifying
• Wednesday 20 April: Recurve qualifying
• Thursday 21 April: Compound eliminations
• Friday 22 April: Recurve eliminations
• Saturday 23 April: Compound finals (morning – teams, afternoon – final fours)
• Sunday 24 April: Recurve finals (morning – teams, afternoon – final fours)

How to watch

Coverage of the first stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup is being shown worldwide by broadcast partners. Check local listings on CCTV (China), Claro Sports (Latin America), Eleven (Chinese Taipei), Eurosport (Europe), SpoTV (Korea and Southeast Asia), SETIndia (Indian subcontinent) and TRT (Turkey).

The event is being streamed live by the Olympic Channel in other territories.

Live scores will be available on the World Archery website, and there will be coverage on World Archery’s digital platforms throughout the competition.

Qualifying for Tlaxcala

Eight archers in each of the four circuit competition categories – recurve men, recurve women, compound men and compound women – qualify for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final, which is taking place in the Mexican city of Tlaxcala in 2022.

The winners of the four stages book automatic tickets, one spot is reserved for an archer from the host nation (Mexico) and the remainder are awarded on the Hyundai Archery World Cup Ranking.

Read our article explaining just how the international circuit works.

Who’s competing?

These were the winners of the last stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup held in Antalya back in 2019:

• Recurve men: Brady Ellison, USA
• Recurve women: Zheng Yichai, China (not competing)
• Compound men: James Lutz, USA (not competing)
• Compound women: Danelle Lutz, South Africa (not competing)

These are the top-ranked archers competing at the first stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup:

• Recurve men: Brady Ellison, USA (world rank: 1)
• Recurve women: Lisa Barbelin, France (world rank: 6)
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands (world rank: 1)
• Compound women: Sara Lopez, Colombia (world rank: 1)

A total of 341 (198 men, 143 women) athletes from the following 47 countries are registered to compete at the tournament: Algeria, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Cote d’Ivoire, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Moldova, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, USA, US Virgin Islands and Uzbekistan.

Competition at the first stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup starts with compound qualification on Tuesday.