Mexico City 2017: 9 statistics from the World Archery Championships

This international archery season has seen its fair share of Olympic venues. The Hyundai Archery World Cup stage in Berlin was held next to the Olympiastadion from 1936 and the Foro Italico, used for the Games in 1960, hosted the World Cup Final in Rome.

The qualification and elimination phases of the 2017 Hyundai World Archery Championships in Mexico City take place on the Campo Marte – the venue of the equestrian competition at the Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games.

Here’s nine statistics to know about the 49th edition of the World Archery Championships.

1. Seven returning medallists

Seven out of the 12 individual medallists from 2015 return in Mexico City. Only Kim Woojin and Stephan Hansen have a chance to defend their titles.

• KIM WOOJIN, Korea  Gold
• FURUKAWA TAKAHARU, Japan  Bronze
• LIN SHIH-CHIA, Chinese Taipei  Silver
• CHOI MISUN, Korea  Bronze
• STEPHAN HANSEN, Denmark  Gold
• SARA LOPEZ, Colombia  Bronze
• RICK VAN DER VEN, Netherlands  Silver

2. Olympians

Of the 201 recurve athletes at the championships – 121 men and 80 women – 74 have competed at the Olympic Games. Brazilian compound woman Jane Karla Gogel and Italian compound man Alberto Simonelli are both Paralympians.

Mexico leads the list with six Olympians, Korea follows with five, and then USA, India, Italy and Colombia each have four.

3. Nine-point-eight

Only two archers in Mexico City have averaged more than 9.8 points per arrow through the year: 2013 World Archery Champion Mike Schloesser (9.835) and 2015 World Archery Champion Stephan Hansen (9.830).

Both Abhishek Verma and Kris Schaff have posted 9.8 on the dot in matchplay, too.

4. Four Rosario podiums

The 2017 World Archery Youth championships took place in Rosario on 2-8 October – and many athletes travelled straight from Argentina to Mexico, including four of the individual medallists.

• LUCY MASON, Great Britain 
• BRYAN ALVARADO, Puerto Rico 
• RICARDO SOTO, Chile 
• GIZEM ELMAAGACLI, Turkey 

5. 27 Sub-21

Twenty-seven of the 376 archers competing in the Mexican capital are juniors; 11 compound athletes and 16 recurvers.

Christopher Perkins, Mike Schloesser and Stephan Hansen – the last three compound men’s World Archery Champions – all won the worlds when they were 20 years of age or less.

6. Six Solo athletes

Three compound women, one compound men, two recurve men and one recurve woman arrived in Mexico City as solo representatives of their nations.

• NANCY ELGIBILY, Egypt 
• JULIA OLEKSEJENKO, Latvia 
• BARBARA SCOTT, New Zealand 
• LUIS GONCALVES, Portugal 
• ALEXANDRA LONGOVA, Slovakia 
• SULA BLICK, Uganda 

7. Match wins

Although she might not have had the dominant Hyundai Archery World Cup season she had back in 2015, Sara Lopez’s third World Cup Champion season has still been sublime. She leads all athletes in Mexico City in match win percentage.

• Sara Lopez – 91% (20-2)
• Kim Woojin – 87% (20-3)
• Kang Chae Young – 85% (11-2)

8. Sixty-one nations

There are archers from 61 nations registered to compete in Mexico City. Fourteen of those – Colombia, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Germany, India, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Chinese Taipei, Turkey, USA – have a full 12-member squad.

Nations per continent:

• Americas: 13
• Europe: 33
• Asia: 9
• Oceania: 2
• Africa: 4

9. Predicting qualifying

Finishing top eight over the ranking round guarantees a ticket into the third round of eliminations. Taking the season-best scores of all athletes in Mexico – and banking on the weather being as still as on official practice day – these are the top-eight cut scores to expect:

• Compound men – 707 points
• Compound women – 697 points
• Recurve men – 677 points
• Recurve women – 663 points

The 2017 Hyundai World Archery Championships run 15-22 October in Mexico City, Mexico.