Preview: Medellin hosts last chance for Archery World Cup Final hopefuls

It’s hard to believe already, but the fourth and last stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup starts next week in Medellin.

The Colombian metropolis – known as the ‘city of eternal spring’ for its pleasant climate – hosts the world’s best archers once again, returning as the Americas leg of the international tour after hosting a stage from 2013 to 2016 and in 2019. Rather than pleasant, the weather during next week’s competition is looking more like it will feature another famous springtime phenomenon – rain. And lots of it.

Exciting conditions for the nearly 300 archers taking part, most of whom aren’t one of the 10 archers who’ve already booked their places at the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final, taking place in Mexico in October. 

One of those currently ticketless in is six-time circuit champion Sara Lopez.

She’s statistically having her worst season since 2016 in terms of scoring power (matching that output of 9.68 points per arrow) and is yet to make a final four on the circuit in 2022. Lopez did, however, recently make the final at the World Games in Birmingham – but lost to Ella Gibson, who is also already a two-time stage winner this year.

When the new world ranking list is released, it’s likely that the Birmingham result will cause Gibson to knock Lopez out of the top spot.

What better place for Lopez to right the ship than on home soil in Medellin?

Key information

What’s happening? The fourth and last stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup on 18-24 July 2022 in Medellin, Colombia.

Where is it? Qualification and eliminations are taking place at Unidad Deportiva de Belen, which is the training field of the Colombian national team, while finals will be shot in a temporary arena built at Parque del Rio.

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

What’s the story? It’s the last chance for athletes to book their spot for Tlaxcala and the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final – either as a stage winner or on points in the ranking, won for high finishes or through qualifying bonuses. Big names will be in, big names will be out.

Event schedule

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

How to watch

Coverage of the fourth stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup is being shown worldwide by broadcast partners. Check local listings on TeleMedellin (Colombia) 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.

Last chance saloon

Colombian superstar Sara Lopez, alongside fellow world number one An San, has not yet qualified for Mexico. (Let’s not forget that Lopez only qualified by winning the last stage in 2021, too.) But these two are hardly alone among the elite who have a nervous week ahead.

The compound events have seen two stage wins apiece from Mike Schloesser and Ella Gibson. That has opened up opportunities at this last leg where rather than there just being a maximum of 25 ranking points available for an individual win, there’s up to 33 when you factor in the possible eight bonus points for the top qualifier.

Estonia’s Lisell Jaatma and Denmark’s Mathias Fullerton sit second in the Hyundai Archery World Cup Rankings arriving in Medellin. They’re technically not qualified for Tlaxcala – but all they need is a big score during qualifying, and the accompanying bonus points, to make it official.

Have those 72 first competition arrows ever mattered more?

Final tracker

Arriving in Medellin, the following archers are already qualified for the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Tlaxcala:

• Recurve men: Miguel Alvarino, Spain (stage winner); Kim Woojin, Korea (stage winner); Marcus D’Almeida, Brazil (stage winner)
• Recurve women: Bryony Pitman, Great Britain (stage winner); Choi Misun, Korea (stage winner); Utano Agu, Japan (stage winner)
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands (stage winner); Nicolas Girard, France (stage winner)
• Compound women: Ella Gibson, Great Britain (stage winner); Kim Yunhee, Korea (stage winner)

Who’s competing?

These were the winners of last year’s Americas stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup held in Guatemala:

• Recurve men: Atanu Das, India (not competing)
• Recurve women: Deepika Kumari, India (not competing)
• Compound men: Braden Gellenthien, USA
• Compound women: Nora Valdez, Colombia (not competing)

These are the archers ranked highest in the world who are competing at the fourth stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup:

• Recurve men: Kim Woojin, Korea (world rank: 1)
• Recurve women: An San, Korea (world rank: 1)
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands (world rank: 1)
• Compound women: Sara Lopez, Colombia (world rank: 1)

A total of 266 athletes from the national teams of the following 35 countries are registered to compete at the tournament: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemala, India, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the US Virgin Islands and the USA.

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