NAVIGATING THE NEW NORMAL

With the past 19 odd months that everyone has been through around the world, we have all had to make adaptations to life, and the sport of archery is no exception. It may not as simple as indoors and outdoors any more. People will likely find themselves shooting indoor rounds outdoors, mixing restrictions and ‘new norms’ with World Archery bylaws changing. What could this mean for competition, as we move forward?

First, let’s run through what changed for the sport during the most recent World Archery Congress (see Bow 155) regarding timings. The bylaw has reduced shooting time from 40 seconds per arrow to just 30 seconds in “individual qualification for Olympic rounds, compound rounds and indoor match rounds where alternate shooting does not apply, including shoot-offs.”

Simply put, this means three minutes per six arrow end, rather than four minutes.

Para-archers will, however, remain shooting at 40 seconds per arrow in para competition. However, when shooting alongside able-bodied archers, they will be shooting to the 30