Top 5: Best photos from the second stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup

The Hyundai Archery World Cup returned to Korea last week, with the second stage of the 2022 circuit taking place in Gwangju.

It marked the first tournament of the season for teams from Korea, Brazil and Mexico, among others, and brought us three new qualifiers for this year’s circuit finale, scheduled to take place in the Mexican city of Tlaxcala in October.

Following the selection of his best snaps from stage one in Antalya last month, Dean returns to guide us through five of his favourite images he captured in Asia, giving us context to his wonderful pieces of art.

If you like the selection, check the full photo albums on the event page – Gwangju 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup – on the World Archery website.

1) As close as it gets

A great showing of accuracy and controlling the nerves during this shoot-off between Elia Canales and Diya Siddique.

It actually took them two tiebreaks to decide who would advance to the next round of eliminations.

The first one was too close to measure and the second one was almost just as tight, but Elia’s arrow edged out Diya’s by a few millimetres.

2) Mister Perfect

Another close encounter was the shoot-off between Chen Chieh-Lun and reigning Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion (and current world number one) Mike Schloesser.

While both archers hit the 10-ring, Mike’s arrow was just touching the spider, giving him a closest-to-the-centre win. The shot was so good he even took a picture of it himself. Mister Perfect, as he is known, went on to win in Gwangju, his second consecutive victory from two events this season.

3) Bow art

Ever wondered what archers do during their limited free time at competitions? Here’s one example of how they spend their free time. With just a single white marker pen, Australia’s Sara Haywood turned both her bows into pieces of art.

The patience, accuracy, attention to detail and focus is probably the same patience, accuracy, attention to detail and focus that Sara uses to be a world-class archer.

4) Spreading the love

In my pre-Gwangju predictions I didn’t mention her as a winner, but as someone to watch. But, man, what a comeback Choi Misun had after being away from the World Cup circuit for a couple of years. The Korean archer cruised through the rounds as if she never went away.

She beat her teammate and Olympic champion An San in the last eight, then Kuo Tzu Ying in the semifinals and took a seemingly smooth, 6-2, victory in the final against another teammate, Lee Gahyun, for gold.

Welcome back, we’ve missed you.

5) German happiness, German hope

What a Hyundai Archery World Cup season so far for the German team, especially the recurve women who have won silver medals in both stages so far.

Germany also won recurve mixed team gold in Gwangju and this, combined with an all-German recurve bronze medal match in Antalya, has created high expectations for the upcoming 2022 European Championships on home soil, in Munich, in two weeks.