Hicks sets new barebow bar with 673-point world record aged 15

British teenager Ollie Hicks scored 673 out of a possible 720 points to set a new senior, under-21 and under-18 world record for the barebow men’s 72-arrow 50-metre round at a regional championships on Saturday. The record is subject to ratification.

“At the beginning of the year I could only dream of reaching Hugo Lobb and John Demmer’s world record scores,” the 15-year-old wrote on his Facebook profile. “But thanks to a lot of hard work and some incredible kit I’ve far exceeded my goals.”

Target archery records were introduced for barebow archers in early 2020. John Demmer III set the 72-arrow round mark at 627 in July of that year and then steadily increased it to 672, where it has remained, by August 2021.

Ollie’s score at the Waterside Archer’s ground in Southampton beat that record by one point. Demmer commented on Hicks’ post:

“You did awesome man! Congratulations! I’m sure you have inspired some to train harder. Onward and upward Ollie.”

Hicks competed at his first World Archery 3D Championships less than two weeks ago in Terni and finished 11th, having come second at the European Indoor Championships earlier in 2022, in his first season on the British senior team.