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

The fourth and last stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup finished in Medellin, Colombia on Sunday.

Many of the 266 athletes from the 35 countries registered were looking to book tickets to the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Mexico – their last chance to do so.

World Archery photographer Dean Alberga has been at all four stages and previously picked his favourite shots from Antalya, Gwangju and Paris. These are his five favourite snaps from Medellin.

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

1) Clearance

Modern cameras (with their rapid frame rate) make it easier to catch an arrow in flight. It gives a bit more dynamic to the photo. In this one, you can see the perfect clearance of a (probably) perfect setup.

I shot this image at 1/4000 of a second and you can still see a bit of movement, giving you an idea of just how fast the arrow is travelling when it leaves the bow.

2) Line dancing

The start of the team rounds almost seems like a line dance.

Korea’s Kim Woojin is a bit out of sync in this image. The gap between him and the others would translate into results, too – although not behind, in front. He went on to win recurve men’s team gold with Korea plus individual gold by defeating Mauro Nespoli, 7-1, in the final.

3) Hand of the master

Looking at the wear and tear of these fingers you can see this person has been training hard for a long time. These digits belongs to none other than Korea’s Oh Jin Hyek, marking his arrow holes after another perfect end of 60 points.

How many times has he done that in his career?

4) Korean powerhouse

Are the Korean recurve men the biggest archery force to be reckoned with right now? Well, they are certainly strong. They posed accordingly for this picture. With multiple Olympic gold medallists, they could clean house at almost every competition – and that is exactly what they did in Colombia. 

5) Emotional moment

I have known Linda Ochoa-Anderson since the beginning when the Hyundai Archery World Cup first started. Shooting first for Mexico and now for the USA, her Hyundai Archery World Cup adventure has now come to an end.

She was fighting her tears on the podium knowing her compound mixed team silver (with James Lutz) would be her last Hyundai Archery World Cup medal (in 41 stage appearances and four at the Hyundai Archery World Cup).

It might have been silver – but it must have meant the world. Thank you, Linda.