Preview: 2026 World 3D Championships follow on from World Field in South Dakota
The Yankton 2026 World Archery 3D Championships take place from 28 September – 3 October 2026 in Yankton, South Dakota, USA.
Many compound and barebow athletes competing in the Yankton 2026 World Archery Field Championships are staying put in Yankton for the 3Ds, held at the same venue.
They will be joined by archers in the traditional bow and longbow classes, in their only outdoor World Archery 'major'. The World 3Ds does not feature a recurve class.
Unlike the world field, there are no marked rounds; all competition is unmarked and archers must try to gauge all distances. There is also only a single senior category; qualifying archers in under-21 world field categories compete in the corresponding senior categories in world 3D.
3D is also one of three World Archery disciplines that offer open entry tournaments to encourage recreational participation, alongside indoor and masters competition.
Key information
What’s happening? The 12th edition of the biennial World Archery Field Championships, held at the Lewis & Clark Recreation Area, two years after the previous edition in Slovenia.
What’s at stake? Titles in individual and team events across compound, barebow, traditional bow and longbow, in senior categories only.
Who’s competing? A total of 231 archers representing 25 nations.
What’s the story? While strongly tied together and sharing much with the field discipline, 3D remains a distinct world of its own with its own specialists and a particular focus on unsighted bowstyles.
Defending champions
These are the senior archers defending their titles from Mokrice 2024:
- Compound men: Mikael Anderle, Sweden (not competing)
- Compound women: Irene Franchini, Italy
- Barebow men: Oliver Øchkenholt, Denmark
- Barebow women: Cinzia Noziglia, Italy
- Traditional bow men: Jed Cullen, Great Britain (not competing)
- Traditional bow women: Sabrina Vannini, Italy
- Longbow men: Ian Edwards, Great Britain
- Longbow women: Cecilia Santacroce, Italy
Schedule
Full schedule to follow - please check back here for updates.
Finals will be held on Saturday 3 October and Sunday 4th October.
How to watch
Live scores will be available on the World Archery website, with coverage across World Archery’s digital platforms throughout the competition.
The finals will not be televised.
Competition format
The programme at the world 3D championships consists of individual and mixed team events for compound, barebow, longbow and traditional bows plus four archer team events that feature each country’s four highest scorers, one in each bowstyle.
Qualifying consists of two days of 24 targets, all 3D foam animals of varying sizes, Two arrows are shot at each target. Distances are all unmarked and the maximum score per arrow is 11.
The maximum score in qualification is 1056 points (528 per day).
Matches in the 1/12 round, 1/8 round and quarterfinals are contested over six marked targets.
Semifinals and finals consist of four targets.
The winner of each category is awarded the title of World Archery 3D Champion.
Who’s competing?
A total of 231 archers from the following 25 national teams are registered to compete in Yankton:
Argentina, Austria, Australia, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay, USA.
These are the top ranked target archers competing in at the World 3Ds in Yankton:
- Compound men: Nico Wiener, Austria (world rank: 4)
- Compound women: Irene Franchini, Italy (world rank: 105)
There is no world ranking for barebow, traditional bow or longbow archers.
Competition begins at the Yankton 2026 World Archery 3D Championships with the first unmarked qualifying session on Tuesday (schedule subject to change).
