The first Hyundai Archery World Cup of 2026 delivered a genuinely historic moment: the first nation to achieve a clean sweep of the women’s individual podium apart from Korea.
China’s youthful trio of Zhu Jingyi, Yu Qi and Huang Yuwei – aged 19, 18 and 21 – achieved the feat, adding team and mixed team gold, with Zhu completing a rare triple World Cup victory to move fourth in the world rankings.
Korea’s women have managed three World Cup podium sweeps, the first by Kang Chaeyoung, Choi Misun and Ki Bo Bae at Shanghai 2015 – notably the debut appearance for both Misun and Chaeyoung. They repeated the feat at Medellin 2022 and Shanghai 2023, both also involving Kang.
The remarkable result in Puebla came in the absence of Korea’s recurve squad, who are still selecting their teams for the season. It should not diminish an achievement that may still cause some concern in Jincheon in an Asian Games year – especially as it was achieved without Li Jiaman, China’s most successful recurve woman in recent seasons.
The Asian Games remains one of the most important events for the region’s leading nations, in archery and beyond. This year’s edition will be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, with the archery competition staged in the coastal city of Okazaki.
One of the largest multisport events outside the Olympics, the last edition in Hangzhou in 2022 welcomed more athletes than the Games in Paris. Winning an Asian Games medal carries significance comparable to Olympic success – particularly for the Korean archery team.
Korea’s women have long dominated the team event, mirroring their Olympic record, although China claimed gold in 1994 and has finished runner-up on six occasions.
