The USA’s Justin Huish marked another milestone in his return to archery after posting a world-record score in the recurve 50+ men category on 28 June 2026 at the California State Outdoor Championships in Simi Valley, California.
The former Olympic Champion scored 1354 points over the double 60-metre round, improving the previous world best of 1324, set by Denmark’s Dennis Bager in May 2025, by 30 points.
“I had no goals going into that weekend other than to somehow get through 72 arrows each day and just have some fun,” said Huish. “It wasn’t until I got home and people started calling me telling me I was two points off the world record. That’s when the pressure really started to ratchet up.”
Huish became the first male archer to win two gold medals at a single Olympic Games when he claimed the individual and team recurve titles on home soil at Atlanta 1996. He later qualified for Sydney 2000 before withdrawing from the Games.
After stepping away from elite competition for more than two decades, Huish returned to the spotlight in 2023 when he competed in a legends exhibition match at the Indoor Archery World Series Finals in Las Vegas, shooting in front of a large crowd for the first time in more than 20 years.
The world-record performance came after almost two years away from recurve competition because of a shoulder problem that at one stage made him believe he might never shoot the discipline again. After finding the right treatment earlier this year, Huish gradually returned to recurve training without any expectation of competing at a high level.
“I haven’t decided on a comeback,” he said. “I’m just following my heart. It would be a crazy story if I made the LA28 team – 32 years apart.”
Huish also discovered after the event that fellow Olympic Champion Michele Frangilli had broken the recurve 50+ qualification world record on the very same day.
“For the two of us, with our history, 30 years later, not just breaking world records but doing it on the exact same day is epic,” said Huish. “I messaged him that night congratulating him.”
Now competing in the recurve 50+ category, Huish has added another milestone to an already remarkable career.
Header image courtesy of USA Archery.
