Yecheon 2024: Archery’s premier international tour returns to Korea

Yecheon hosts the second stage of the three-leg Hyundai Archery World Cup in 2024, with more than 350 archers – 200-plus of those recurve – headed to the small city’s expansive archery centre.

And it is a small place. A population of only 50,000.

One of them? Korea’s first world champion, Kim Jin-ho, for whom the Yecheon Jinho International Archery Centre is named.

That’s in the past. In the present, the pressure on the home team is real.

Korea is in the spotlight in Yecheon.

Key information

What’s happening? The second stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup on 21-26 May 2024 at Jinho International Archery Field in Yecheon, Korea.

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

Who’s competing? More than 350 archers from 50 countries.

What’s the story? Archery’s premier international tour is back in the sport’s most successful nation, this time in the small town of Yecheon – home of the country’s first-ever World Archery Champion (and namesake of the impressive complex) Kim Jin-ho. It’s the perfect place for Korea to right the ship after a less-than-dominant start to the season last month in Shanghai.

Event schedule

• Tuesday 21 May: Compound qualifying
• Wednesday 22 May: Recurve qualifying
• Thursday 23 May: Compound eliminations
• Friday 24 May: Recurve eliminations
• Saturday 25 May: Compound finals*
• Sunday 26 May: Recurve finals*

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

How to watch

Coverage of the second stage of the 2024 Hyundai Archery World Cup is being shown worldwide by broadcast partners and available worldwide to archery+ subscribers.

Check local listings on AZAM (Sub-Saharan Africa), BeIN (MENA), CCTV (China), Claro Sports (Latin America), Eleven (Chinese Taipei), Eurosport (Europe), Fox (Australia), POLSAT (Poland), SpoTV (Korea and Southeast Asia), SETIndia (Indian subcontinent), Rai (Italy) and TRT (Turkey).

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 is Kim Jin-ho?

Korea made its debut at the World Archery Championships in 1979 and Kim Jin-ho won individual gold as the recurve women’s team also collected the country’s first world title. Jin-ho would then finish third at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games.

“She was the first person who informed archery to the Korean people,” said former head coach Moon Hyung Cheol. “She’s quite a powerful person for all of them.”

Home field advantage

The last time a stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup took place in Korea was in 2022, when the second leg stopped in Gwangju. (That city will host the World Archery Championships in 2025.)

Korea near-dominated, winning four of the five recurve events and two compound golds.

A purpose-built home archery stadium is exactly what the squad needs after a less-than-ideal start to the year in Shanghai, where only Lim Sihyeon’s shining individual performance, and a lucky break in the mixed team final, prevented a disaster.

Lim’s recurve women’s team fell at their first hurdle this year, losing the final in Shanghai to China. A win in Yecheon is essential.

Who’s competing?

All four winners from the season opener in Shanghai are competing:

• Recurve men: Andres Temiño, Spain
• Recurve women: Lim Sihyeon, Korea
• Compound men: Nico Wiener, Austria
• Compound women: Jyothi Surekha Vennam, India

All four world number ones are competing in Yecheon:

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

A total of 353 archers (129 recurve men, 115 recurve women, 62 compound men and 47 compound women) from the following 50 teams are registered to compete at the tournament:

Australia, Austria, Bhutan, Brazil, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemala, Hong Kong China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Türkiye, Uganda, USA, US Virgin Islands, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Competition in Yecheon starts with compound qualifying on Tuesday afternoon.