Bodie Turner becomes Vegas Shoot Champion for the second time
Bodie Turner won The Vegas Shoot on Sunday, after an unprecedented sixteen ends of shooting saw off a 30-strong field, who were forced to shoot inside out 10s at the last.
It’s the second Vegas title for Turner – after 2022 when he was just 15 – and he took the punishing length and pressure of the shootdown in his stride.
“Once you get up there, you don’t really realise how long you you’re up there... it worked out well for me,” he said. “I was definitely more confident this year than I have been, I shot really good, I had to shoot inside out X’s to win it.”
“The other win [in 2022] meant a lot, but this one means more. Just because I had to work so much harder for it,” said the now 18-year-old. “Where do I go from here? Three times!”
This year, for the first time the final shootdown was held in the Planet Hollywood theatre, a 4500-capacity venue, and completely sold out.
With a 30-strong field on the new stage, for the first time top and bottom targets were on the bales, with the archers given preference via ranking order as to which one they would prefer.
After the first end, where the big 10-ring scored, two archers – 2011 runner-up Martin Damsbo and Luis Elumba – dropped away, with Elumba shooting a miss.
It was time for the business end of the Vegas Shoot, with only inner 10s, touching the inner X-ring, scoring. The second end lost 13 names, including Kris Schaff, Pierre-Julien Deloche, Nico Wiener and Sawyer Sullivan – and the field was already cut in half, with 15 archers left.
The third end saw Jimmy Lutz and Ace Coleman leave the stage, the fourth Sebastian Garcia, and the fifth Tim Jevsnik and Nick Kappers. The sixth end was clean across the board. In the seventh, Nicholas Ingham, Michael Allman and Colton Green were out, leaving seven men on the stage.
The eighth end saw lucky dog Ojas Pravin Deotale lose on his last arrow – a popular figure in Vegas, he was waved off the big stage to cheers from the audience. The ninth moved to sequential single arrow shooting; piling on the pressure and the drama – when Matthew Burns shot a nine.
Five were left, four of whom were previous champions (Mathias Fullerton, Turner, Christopher Perkins and Mike Schloesser). But Nicolas Girard – who had faltered in his first effort on the stage today in the Indoor World Series Finals – was staying right with them.
All five stayed in after two additional ends, which meant they had now shot 300 with 30X on the stage – and no one looked like they were going to let go.
But then Schloesser, who had looked the strongest of the five throughout, suddenly cracked with a 29.
From the 13th end on, only inside out 10s counted as 10s. It would be the first time that the Vegas Shoot had required the inside out 10s rule to complete the shoot, and a testament to how strong the final field was.
In the previous shoot-offs, most archers had switched to skinny arrows to take advantage of the rule, as there was less arrow to touch the inner line. On this stage, only Fullerton had brought skinny arrows and a replacement rest, and he immediately used them.
Girard nailed an inside out 10 on his first shot, and Perkins on his second. Fullerton’s strategy to change arrows had not paid off, and the 2024 champion went out with a 27; not without a spirited defence of his title. He had gambled, and lost – but that’s Vegas.
Girard, Turner and Perkins would make up the podium.
In the 15th end, Girard nailed an inside out 10, but so did Turner. Perkins could not do better, and the 2018 champion finished in third. With Turner and Girard left, Turner produced a close – very close – inside out 10. But Girard could not respond, and this time it was enough.
Bodie Turner, for the second time after his win in 2022, after almost two hours of relentless pressure shooting, was crowned the Vegas Champion for 2025.
It was a dramatic shootdown with incredible high-level skill, perhaps the most sustained group skill yet seen in Vegas – and you also got the feeling that it wouldn’t be the last time we would see inside out shooting closing out a Vegas Shoot.
A total of 3877 archers registered for the 58th Vegas Shoot, and the competition will return in March 2026.
Winners: 2025 Vegas Shoot
Categories eligible for the Indoor Archery World Series are listed only. Full results for the championship and amateur categories are available via the Vegas Shoot website.
- Compound men: Bodie Turner, USA
- Compound women: Gracen Fletcher, USA
- Recurve men: Brady Ellison, USA
- Recurve women: Casey Kaufhold, USA
