Lee Gahyun achieves career first individual gold in Shanghai
Lee Gahyun denied teammate Lim Sihyeon a third gold medal of the day in the recurve women’s individual final at the second stage of the 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Champion Lim, who had already secured titles in the women’s team – alongside Lee – and mixed team events on Sunday, started strong in the individual final, taking the first set 29-28.
But Lee responded with sharp shooting of three consecutive 29s to clinch her maiden senior individual gold on the circuit, three years on from her last World Cup appearance in Medellin in 2022.
“In terms of my career, this is just practise,” said the 24-year-old on where this moment ranked in her career. “I wasn’t able to make the Asian Games and I just kept shooting a lot of national competitions. I even got married last year.”
It marks a triumphant return to archery’s premier international circuit for Gahyun.
Although she hadn’t been part of the national squad in recent seasons, she looked right at home this week – both on the finals stage at the Riverside Financial Plaza and during eliminations at the Yuanshen Sports Centre.
She seeded second in Wednesday’s 72-arrow qualification round, scoring 672 among 73 competitors from 24 nations. Lim pipped her to the top spot with 676.
Given their rich vein of form in major tournaments throughout archery history, an all-Korean final often feels inevitable when the top seeds align, unless a rare upset occurs.
Lee Gahyun is one of the newer names on Korea’s roster this season. She joins established names An San and Kang Chaeyoung in replacing Paris 2024 Olympic gold medallists Nam Suhyeon and Jeon Hunyoung.
“During the Paris Olympics, I was watching it to the wee hours of the early morning because the 10th consecutive gold medal at stake for the women’s team was so important to me – not just as an individual but for our country, for our team,” she said, when asked if she had felt down viewing the Games rather shooting in them.
“I had to make sure I was watching.”
A Korean one-two-three was on the cards heading into the semifinals, with Kang also in the final four – but India’s Deepika Kumari had other ideas.
With three sets apiece in the bronze medal match, last year’s World Cup Final runner-up Kumari delivered her only perfect score of the day – three 10s – followed by a 29 to edge Kang’s 29 and 28, winning 7-3. The margins were fine, fitting of world-class archery.
“I didn’t expect anything from me,” commented the four-time Olympian. “My mission is different. That is very important for me because there is a different environment, a different feeling – a little anxiety, a little happiness. I want to achieve that [gold] in that place.”
“That” is LA28, the next Olympic Games.
Kim Woojin completed the Korean gold medal sweep in Shanghai by beating Mexico’s Matias Grande in the recurve men’s individual final, booking his ticket to the 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Nanjing – as do all stage winners.
Shanghai 2025 is now over, but the circuit will return to the Chinese city next year. The Hyundai Archery World Cup moves to stage three in Antalya, Türkiye, scheduled for 3-8 June.
Podiums: Shanghai 2025
Full results on the event page.
Recurve men
- Kim Woojin, Korea
- Matias Grande, Mexico
- Parth Sushant Salunkhe, India
Recurve women
- Lee Gahyun, Korea
- Lim Sihyeon, Korea
- Deepika Kumari, India
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