Han Seungyeon on stepping out of recurve shadow for Korea

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT is presented by WIAWIS.

The archery world was shaken up on 9 April when the International Olympic Committee confirmed that the compound mixed team event would be added to the programme at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

For eons, recurve has been the Olympic standard, while compound remained outside the pinnacle of the sport’s four-year cycle. Its absence from the Games has long diminished the discipline’s perceived significance, despite the abundance of compound archers across the globe.

Now with LA28 on the horizon, a groundbreaking balancing act is incoming, with perhaps no country feeling the shift more than Korea, a nation often considered the face of recurve archery.

As of Paris 2024, Korea had won 43 Olympic archery medals and swept all available golds in the French capital.

One of those who would’ve been watching – and no doubt supporting –  from afar last summer was compound athlete Han Seungyeon, perhaps thinking ‘What if?’ as her teammates claimed medal after medal. 

But now, everything has changed for her and Korean compound archery.

“I was in Korea at the training centre,” said Han, recalling the moment she found out about the LA28 announcement. “I was just so excited about the news. Our national team actually got a cake to celebrate.”

“I imagined it, but I never really believed that it would happen.”

“It’s too bad that it’s only mixed team for now, but I think maybe there’s a chance that we might have individual events eventually.”

Han, now 22, made her senior debut for Korea at the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai last year, and she returns to the Chinese city for this week’s stage in 2025.

She won her maiden World Cup medal – bronze – at the following stage in Yecheon 2024 and claimed gold earlier this year at the Asia Cup. Those results have catapulted her to 21st in the world rankings, an impressing position considering she has competed in just five senior events so far.

Had a new member of the Korean recurve team achieved this feat, it would have created far more waves in archery spheres, with the world marvelling that this dominant country had once again found an elite archer in its never-ending conveyor belt of talent.

The hype may not be the same, much to Han’s disappointment, at least for now.

“Maybe it’s a little bit of a shame, but we’re working even harder just to be as successful as the recurve archers,” she said.

“But there’s already a little bit of a change. Maybe I don’t have a lot of fans, but people in my inner circle have called me already to congratulate me that compound is in the Olympics, so I think it’s changing – slowly.”

Han did in fact try recurve once in high school but was advised by coach to switch to compound, as she often felt target panic from the clicker on the recurve bow. Now, she no longer needs to wonder if she missed her shot at becoming an Olympian, as she can finally build towards the Games.

With Korean team trials clashing with Central Florida 2025 – the first stage of archery’s premier international circuit –Shanghai provides the first chance for Han and the seven other compounders in the squad to prepare for LA28 in a setting that mirrors the Olympics with the world’s best archers descending onto the Yuanshen Sports Centre.

Not getting ahead of herself though, Han’s focus is firmly set on what lies ahead at home with the Hyundai Archery World Championships in Gwangju this September. Winning a medal there would be her most impressive achievement, undoubtedly.

“I never expected that I would have those kinds of results [Iast year],” she said. “But now that I’m a senior this year, I want to have some bigger results at bigger competitions.

“For sure, I want to win – but with the Gwangju world championships in front of us, this is kind of like a stepping stone, allowing us to practise until that comes.”

Han will be able to put herself into the best possible position for the upcoming matches in Shanghai, as the 72-arrow compound qualifying begins to kickstart this week’s action.