Preview: Archery World Cup’s 17th season set to start in Antalya

Major competition returns at the start of a packed season next week when the Hyundai Archery World Cup opens in the Mediterranean coastal resort of Antalya.

The names of two of our reigning circuit champions appear on the docket – Sara Lopez and Mike Schloesser – while the others, Koreans Kim Woojin and An San, won’t appear until the second stop in Shanghai.

(That’s if they make the team. Korea’s selections are running concurrently with this tournament.)

Talking of China – they’re back on the scene for the first time since before the pandemic. Just how long will it take to knock the rust off? An Quixuan was a repeated top-10 finisher in 2019, before coming fourth at that year’s Hyundai Archery World Cup Final, but neither she nor the rest of her squad has faced foreign competition in nearly four years.

We’ll find out next week.

Key information

What’s happening? The first stage of the 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup on 18-23 April at the permanent international field in Antalya, Türkiye.

What’s at stake? Stage winners automatically book a ticket for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in September, while a strong result will also award valuable points towards the World Cup Ranking and Sanlida World Archery Ranking.

Who’s competing? More than 390 archers from 52 countries.

What’s the story? Türkiye has long played a significant role in the history of the Hyundai Archery World Cup, featuring on the calendar in all but one of its 17 seasons. Boasting a reigning Olympic Champion in Mete Gazoz, and playing host to the final Olympic qualifier next year, the country is becoming one of the standards of international performance. Gazoz finished fourth here last year. How much good would a medal do domestically? A lot of good.

Qualifying for Hermosillo

The Hyundai Archery World Cup Final returns to Mexico for the second straight year in 2023.

Archers must qualify to compete at this grand finale – which is an individual-only event – off strong performances over the four stages held in the season. There are eight spots in each of the four competition categories (recurve men, recurve women, compound men and compound women) at the final. One spot is reserved for the host country, four go to the stage winners, and the remainder are issued to the next-highest-placed athletes in the Hyundai Archery World Cup Ranking.

See the full circuit schedule for the season below and read our article explaining exactly how the international circuit works.

Event schedule

• Tuesday 18 April: Compound qualifying
• Wednesday 19 April: Recurve qualifying
• Thursday 20 April: Compound eliminations
• Friday 21 April: Recurve eliminations
• Saturday 22 April: Compound finals*
• Sunday 23 April: Recurve finals*

*Teams in the morning, individual final fours in the afternoon.

How to watch

Coverage of the second stage of the 2023 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), Rai (Italy) 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.

Who’s competing?

All four of last year’s individual winners will return to Antalya:

• Recurve men: Miguel Alvarino, Spain
• Recurve women: Bryony Pitman, Great Britain
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands
• Compound women: Ella Gibson, Great Britain

These are the top-ranked archers competing at this year’s event:

• Recurve men: Marcus D’Almeida, Brazil (world rank: 1)
• Recurve women: Katharina Bauer, Germany (world rank: 1)
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands (world rank: 1)
• Compound women: Ella Gibson, Great Britain (world rank: 1)

A total of 394 (223 men, 171 women) athletes from the following 52 teams are registered to compete at the tournament: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Cote d’Ivoire, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Faroe Islands, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong China, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, Spain, Türkiye, Ukraine, United States of America, US Virgin Islands, Uzbekistan.

Competition in Antalya starts with compound qualifying on Tuesday afternoon.