Central Florida hosts 19th Hyundai Archery World Cup season opener
The road to the 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final begins this week in Central Florida, where the world’s top archers gather for the opening stage of the 19th season of the sport’s international circuit.
A new destination on the tour, Lake Myrtle Sports Park in Auburndale becomes the fourth US venue to host a World Cup event, joining Ogden, Salt Lake City and Yankton.
Archers have four chances to qualify for the circuit finale in Nanjing (China) in 2025, by winning a stage or collecting enough points to qualify on ranking. After Central Florida, stages take place in Shanghai (China) in May, Antalya (Türkiye) in June, and Madrid (Spain) in July.
James Lutz and Sara Lopez begin their title defenses at this event. Lopez has a record nine Hyundai Archery World Cup trophies entering 2025.
Li Jiaman is expected to return to the field for her home leg next month in Shanghai.
Korean selections are still ongoing but reigning Olympic Champion Kim Woojin looks in strong shape to return to the squad at stage two, too.
Watch coverage from Central Florida live with a subscription to archery+.
Key information
What’s happening? The first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup on 8-13 April 2025 at Lake Myrtle Sports Park in Auburndale, Florida (USA).
What’s at stake? Stage winners book a ticket for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final.
Who’s competing? More than 200 archers from 35 countries.
What’s the story? Ten isn’t a magic number – but it’s a significant one in archery. The GOAT, Sara Lopez, has a chance to win a phenomenal 10th World Cup trophy in 2025. Her campaign starts here.
Event schedule
- Tuesday 8 April: Compound qualifying
- Wednesday 9 April: Recurve qualifying
- Thursday 10 April: Compound eliminations
- Friday 11 April: Recurve eliminations
- Saturday 12 April: Compound finals*
- Sunday 13 April: Recurve finals*
*Teams in the morning, individual final fours in the afternoon.
How to watch
Coverage of the first stage of the 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup is being shown worldwide by broadcast partners and available worldwide to archery+ subscribers.
Check local listings on BeIN (MENA), CCTV (China), Claro Sports (Latin America), Eleven (Chinese Taipei), SpoTV (Korea and Southeast Asia), SETIndia (Indian subcontinent) and Rai (Italy).
Live scores will be available on the World Archery website, and there will be coverage on World Archery’s digital platforms throughout the competition.
Who’s competing?
These are the top-ranked archers competing in Central Florida:
- Recurve men: Brady Ellison, USA (world rank: 2)
- Recurve women: Casey Kaufhold, USA (world rank: 2)
- Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands (world rank: 1)
- Compound women: Ella Gibson, Great Britain (world rank: 1)
A total of 203 archers (66 recurve men, 59 recurve women, 44 compound men and 34 compound women) from the following 35 teams are registered to compete at the tournament:
Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Germany, Guatemala, Guinea, Hong Kong China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, Türkiye, USA and the US Virgin Islands.
Competition in Central Florida starts with compound qualifying on Tuesday afternoon.
