70 shoot clean in open championship division on day one of the Vegas Shoot in 2019

Two-time Vegas winner Mike Schloesser from the Netherlands tied with France’s Sebastien Peineau and Denmark’s Stephan Hansen on 300 29X to lead the compound championship open ranking list at the Vegas Shoot after a first-day of competition that saw 70 perfect scores in the headline division.

“It was really good; solid from the start and no crazy or stupid things. Just a solid 30 arrows and I’m super satisfied,” said Schloesser, who won Vegas in 2017 and 2015.

Jacob Marlow, who beat Schloesser in a shoot-off to the Lancaster Classic title last weekend, survived with a 300 despite suffering from migraines all day.

Defending Vegas Champion Chris Perkins dropped his 27th arrow into the nine. He made the shoot-off in 2018 as the lucky dog, though. (The lucky dog is the 899-point shooter who joins those with 900 points in the championship shootdown.)

Ninety-seven archers posted 300-point rounds across all the categories. 

Competition in Vegas sees pros and amateurs shoot 30 arrows a day for three days at a triangular three-spot face, scoring the recurve 10-ring as 10. (The World Archery compound 10 scores an X.)

With the Vegas Shoot receiving 3767 total registrations in 2019, yet another record, the number of perfect scores shot by archers in the championship open competition was also a record.

The 70 who shot clean numbered 21 more than the 49 in 2018 and 12 more than the previous high of 58 in 2017.

“It’s just crazy that it’s getting better and better every year,” said Paul Tedford, who shot 300. “It always whittles its way down on the last day. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see 20+ left.”

The lights in the championship arena were upgraded prior to this event. It’s now lighter and whiter for shooters. Whether that’s the reason for the increase or there are just more people shooting better is up for debate.

Perfect scores

The number of archers in the compound championship open/men’s division with a perfect score by day of competition.

Seven archers in the compound women’s championship category also scored a perfect 300 points, as did four championship seniors, five championship young adults, two compound youth men and nine shooters entered into the compound flights.

Sarah Prieels (300 25X), Sara Lopez (300 23X) and So Chaewon (300 22X) were the three women to both shoot clean and put more than 20 arrows in the small 10-ring (X in Vegas).

Only three women had not dropped a point after the first 30 arrows in Vegas in 2018.

Defending Vegas Champion Alexis Ruiz finished two down, putting in nines in each of her first two ends.

“It actually makes me more relaxed because now I can just shoot,” she said. “Last year I shot 298 on the second day and I won it. This year I shot it today so I can come back from this.”

Colombian woman Lopez, a four-time Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion, is famously the only woman to have ever entered the open division and competed with the men. She did that back in 2017 in its first year.

The first two days of the Vegas Shoot act as the fifth and last stage of the Indoor Archery World Series. Once the stage points from Vegas are awarded, the top 16 archers in the recurve men’s, recurve women’s, compound men’s and compound women‘s elite rankings are invited to compete in the Indoor Archery World Series Final.

Live broadcast from the gold medal matches of that competition start at 20h00 local time on Saturday 9 February.

Competition at the Vegas Shoot, the largest indoor archery tournament in the world, continues across the weekend and culminates in the championship shootdown, the sudden-death shoot-off that will decide the victor in the open division.

The Vegas Shoot is the fifth stage and hosts the final of the 2019 Indoor Archery World Series.