Competition format
Archers at the World Archery Championships use either a recurve or compound bow and compete in the discipline of target archery.
The recurve competitions take place over 70 metres, feature individual, mixed team and team events, and matches are decided using the set system. The compound competitions take place over 50 metres, feature individual and mixed team events, and matches are decided using cumulative scoring.
A 72-arrow qualifying round is used to rank and seed athletes (and teams) for the matchplay phase. Archers then progress through head-to-head brackets, with the winner of a match advancing and the loser eliminated, until a champion is crowned.
During recurve set system matches, the goal is to accrue a target number of set points, which is six in the individual events and five in the mixed team and team events. Individual archers shoot sets of three arrows, mixed teams (pairs) sets of four arrows (two each), and teams (three athletes) sets of six arrows (two each). The archer or team with the highest arrow score in a set is awarded two set points, or one each for a draw.
During compound cumulative scoring matches, the goal is to accrue the highest total arrow score over a set number of arrows. Individual archers shoot matches of 15 arrows, split into five ends of three, and mixed teams shoot matches of 16 arrows, split into four ends of four (two each).
