Complete guide to the 2024 World Archery Field Championships

Lac la Biche provides the post-Olympic spotlight for field archery as the biennial championships for the discipline visit Canada for the first time in their 55-year history.

Barebow gets much of the attention this month. The bowstyle features at this event and the World Archery 3D Championships, which follow in Slovenia in just two weeks. Top Italian Cinzia Noziglia will arrive as defending champion at both those tournaments.

Also on the entry list in Lac la Biche is five-time field winner Erik Jonsson, whose looking to become the first to six, and emerging prodigy Ollie Hicks, shooting in the under-21 category.

Compound world number ones Mike Schloesser and Ella Gibson will also make the trip – but they’ll face competition from India, led by Asian Games Champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam, as the country makes its international debut in this discipline of the sport.

Key information

What’s happening? The 28th edition of the World Archery Field Championships on 17-22 September at Lakeside Archers (qualifying and eliminations) and Lac la Biche Golf and Country Club (finals) in Canada.

Who’s competing? Some 230 archers from 27 countries across senior and under-21 age groups.

What’s at stake? Nineteen World Archery Field Champion titles and quota places to the field archery events at the Chengdu 2025 World Games.

What’s the story? France’s David Jackson broke legendary Swedish barebow archer Erik Jonsson’s three-championship winning run two years ago in Yankton, while Paige Pearce began a run of her own after winning her second consecutive. Pearce hasn’t been seen internationally since, while barebow takes its world-stage spotlight in this discipline.

Defending champions

View full results from the Yankton 2022 World Archery Field Championships.

• Recurve men: Florian Unruh, Germany
• Recurve women: Chiara Rebagliati, Italy
• Compound men: Dave Cousins, USA (not competing)
• Compound women: Paige Pearce, USA
• Barebow men: David Jackson, France
• Barebow women: Cinzia Noziglia, Italy

Schedule

• Tuesday 17 September – unmarked qualifying
• Wednesday 18 September – marked qualifying
• Thursday 19 September – eliminations
• Friday 20 September – team eliminations
• Saturday 21 September – team finals
• Sunday 22 September – finals

World Games

Competition in Lac la Biche, as well as awarding world titles, acts as the primary qualification tournament for the field archery events at the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China.

There are 11 places on offer in each recurve and barebow category – one to the champion, and then a further 10 on final ranking, up to a maximum of one per country. The winner place is exempt.

(The compound competition at the World Games is a target archery event.)

The final spot in Chengdu is reserved for the host country, China.

Where to watch

Coverage of the finals sessions at the Lac La Biche 2024 World Archery Field Championships will be available to watch live with a subscription to archery+, with prices starting at 4.99 EUR/month.

• Saturday 21 September: Team finals – start 14h00 local/20h00 UTC
• Sunday 22 September: Under-21 finals – start 09h00 local/15h00 UTC
• Sunday 22 September: Finals – start 14h00 local/20h00 UTC

Live results available at www.worldarchery.sport.

Competition format

There are two phases to competition at this year’s world field championships: qualification and eliminations.

Qualification takes place over two days. The first day consists of 24 unmarked targets (unknown distances) and the second day consists of 24 marked targets. Archers shoot three arrows per target (72 per day in total) and the maximum score per arrow is six points (inner yellow).

The maximum score in qualification is 864 points (432 per day).

Targets can be 80, 60, 40 or 20 centimetres in diameter. Barebow archers shoot at targets set between 5 and 50 metres away. Recurve and compound archers shoot at targets set between 10 and 60 metres away.

The top 16 qualifiers advance to matchplay, in which archers shoot head-to-head over a set number of targets, with the highest scorer advancing and the lower scorer being eliminated.

Matches in the first round and quarterfinals consist of six targets.

Semifinals and finals consist of four targets.

The winner of each category is awarded the title of World Archery Field Champion.

Who’s competing?

A total of 230 archers from the following 27 national teams are registered to compete in Canada:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Uganda and USA.

The highest-ranked archers in the world ranking are as follows:

• Recurve men: Brady Ellison, USA (world rank: 3)
• Recurve women: Chiara Rebagliati, Italy (world rank: 10)
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands (world rank: 1)
• Compound women: Ella Gibson, Great Britain (world rank: 1)

There is no world ranking for barebow archers. Field championships count towards the world ranking for recurve and compound archers.

Competition at the 2024 World Archery Field Championships starts on Tuesday 17 September. Subscribe to archery+ to watch the finals on 21-22 September.