An San smashes indoor world record with 599 in Taipei

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion An San broke the indoor recurve women’s qualifying world record at the Taipei Archery Open on Friday 5 December, shooting 599 out of 600.

The stunning score is still officially subject to ratification.

It smashed the previous record of 595 set by Ryoo Sujung at the Macau Indoor Archery Open in 2018.

“After shooting 300 in the first round, I was very happy, I felt it could lead to a great result,” she said.

An San had a perfect front half of 300, dropped a single point with her third arrow in the first end of the second half, and shot clean afterwards for 299.

“I was disappointed with that nine, but I didn’t dwell on it. I found my rhythm again and stayed on pace, and that led to 599,” she explained.

“This is my first indoor competition since 2019 – I only started training for indoor a week ago,” she added. “It wasn’t easy, but focusing deeply by myself helped me feel the difference between outdoor and indoor.”

The score matches the men’s record of 599 set by Brady Ellison in 2017. It was six points higher than the top recurve men’s score of the day: a 593 shot by Ku Bonchan – another Korean Olympic Champion.

It was also higher than the best compound men’s score of the day, a 598 shot by Mike Schloesser in the same session.

Competition at the Taipei Open runs from Friday to Sunday, with live coverage of the finals on Sunday available with a subscription to archery+.