Preview: World Archery 3D Championships follow world field in Yankton
The Yankton 2026 World Archery 3D Championships take place from 28 September to 3 October 2026 in Yankton, South Dakota, USA.
Many compound and barebow archers competing in the Yankton 2026 World Archery Field Championships will stay in Yankton for the 3D championships, which are being held at the same venue.
They will be joined by archers in the traditional bow and longbow divisions, which have their only outdoor World Archery major at the 3D championships. There is no recurve division.
Unlike field archery, there are no marked rounds in 3D: all qualifying targets are unmarked, requiring archers to estimate the distance to each target. There is also only a senior class, with archers competing in the under-21 categories at the World Archery Field Championships eligible to compete in the corresponding senior categories at the 3D championships.
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 3D Championships, held at the Lewis & Clark Recreation Area two years after the previous edition in Mokrice, Slovenia.
What’s at stake? World titles in individual, mixed team and team events across compound, barebow, traditional bow and longbow.
Who’s competing? A total of 231 archers representing 25 nations.
What’s the story? Closely linked to field archery but with its own specialists, 3D places a particular focus on unsighted bowstyles and shooting at animal-shaped targets.
Defending champions
These are the world champions 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
- Tuesday 29 September: Qualification 1
- Wednesday 30 September: Qualification 2 and individual eliminations
- Thursday 1 October: Eliminations
- Friday 2 October: Individual finals
- Saturday 3 October: Team finals
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 event will not be livestreamed.
Competition format
The programme at the world 3D championships consists of individual and mixed team events for compound, barebow, longbow and traditional bow, plus men’s and women’s team events featuring one archer in each bowstyle.
Qualifying consists of two days of 24 targets, all featuring 3D foam animals of varying sizes. Two arrows are shot at each target, with all distances unmarked and a maximum score of 11 points per arrow.
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 at the World Archery 3D Championships 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 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 at the Yankton 2026 World Archery 3D Championships begins with the first unmarked qualifying session on Tuesday.
