At 70 metres a top archer averages about nine points per arrow

The summary today

The figure holds, and it holds across samples that have nothing to do with one another. The means measured at seventy metres on top archers all fall in a narrow band, between 8.65 and 9.14 points per arrow, whether the archers are experienced Korean university students, Malaysian national-squad archers in training, the reference archer of a methods study or thirty-one elite Korean university and high-school archers. The same band comes from the top of the rankings: at the 2007 World Championships winning a twelve-arrow match took between 109 and 115 points out of 120, and in recurve and compound head-to-head matches from 2013 to 2019 the mean in the sets is 9.15. Two warnings apply before using it as a yardstick, because nine points per arrow is the level of national-squad archers rather than what is seen at a club, and because the measured samples are small, from one to thirty-one archers, with a few dozen arrows each and often in training rather than in competition.

Also phrased as: "a nine average at 70 metres"; "what a national-squad archer scores at 70 metres"; "650 over seventy-two arrows"; "mean score per arrow in top-level recurve"

Evidence

• 2008
  For Archers Published later

  Eight Korean university archers aged twenty with eight to fourteen years of practice, four ends of three arrows at seventy metres on the 122 centimetre face: a group mean of 9.12 ± 0.31 points per arrow, individuals from 8.58 to 9.50. Twelve arrows each is few for a stable average, and the journal is regional.

  Evaluation on Kinematic Factors Affecting Scores of Olympic Round Game during the Follow Through in Archery · Chong-Ku Hah, Jae-Hun Yi

• 2009
  For Archers Published later

  Individual recurve matches at the 2007 outdoor World Championships in Leipzig, twelve arrows per match, read off the official results: the men's champion scores between 109 and 115 out of 120 and his opponents between 102 and 108; the women's champion between 106 and 110, her opponents between 82 and 106. In many matches the margin is a few points. These are match scores, with an opponent alongside and a reduced number of arrows.

  Characteristics of time spent on each phase during archery shooting: A study of the men's and women's individual gold medalists from the World Outdoor Archery Championships · Hideaki Takai, Yoko Kubo, Masanobu Araki

• 2012
  For Archers Published later

  Three Malaysian national-squad archers, two Olympic men and one woman, measured arrow by arrow at seventy metres in training at about 28 degrees: means of 8.93 ± 0.96 over twenty-nine arrows, 8.86 ± 0.80 over thirty-six and 9.14 ± 0.80 over thirty-six. In the first archer the distribution is nine tens, twelve nines, five eights and three sevens. This is training, not a competition, and these are three people.

  Influence of Muscle Activity on Shooting Performance in Archery: Preliminary Findings · Edin Suwarganda, Ruhil Razali, Barry Wilson, Ahmad Pharmy

• 2012
  For Archers Published later

  A study measuring a way of recording scores, not performance: the reference archer shot seventy-two arrows at seventy metres on the 122 centimetre face for 649 points out of 720, which is 9.01 per arrow. It counts as one more measurement of the same figure, but it is a single archer and the score was not the object of the work.

  Inter-Rater Reliability and Criterion Validity of Scatter Diagrams as an Input Method for Marksmanship Analysis: Computerised Notational Analysis for Archery · J. Andrew Callaway, A. Shelley Broomfield

• 2015
  Context Archers Published later

  To set the end-by-end targets of four Olympic archers, the authors work out from the twenty best world scores of 2009 to 2011 the threshold for staying among the best in the world over a full round: at least 1320 points out of 1440, with targets per end of six of 58 points at ninety metres, 55 at seventy and fifty, and 58 at thirty. This is not a measurement on archers but a threshold drawn from the rankings, and the journal has doubtful editorial standards.

  Archery: Emotion Intensity Regulation to Stay in the Zone during Olympic Competition Questionable venue · Jolly Roy, Edin Suwarganda

• 2020
  For Archers Published later

  Thirty-one elite Korean university and high-school archers, measured before and after eight weeks of lower trapezius strengthening: fifteen arrows at seventy metres on the 122 centimetre face, in five ends of three, are worth between 129.80 ± 5.53 and 132.87 ± 5.99 points out of 150, which is between 8.65 and 8.86 per arrow. The programme does not change the score in either group. Fifteen arrows is few for a stable average, and the journal is regional.

  Effects of Lower Trapezius Strengthening Exercise on Shoulder Pain, Function and Archery Performance in Elite Archers · Eunkuk Kim, Jinho Kim, Jinyoung You

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  Head-to-head matches from 120 events between 2013 and 2019, from World Championships and World Cups down to continental and national competitions, taken from the World Archery results: among adult recurve and compound archers the mean is 9.148 points per arrow in the sets, with a standard deviation of 0.488, and 9.088 on the shoot-off arrow, over 3,645 observations. It is not a seventy metre measurement: a quarter of the matches are compound, shot at fifty metres, and the count takes in only matches that went to a shoot-off.

  Choking under pressure in archery · Alessandro Bucciol, Alessandro Castagnetti

Status history

1. 2008 Reported The first figure in the bibliography: eight experienced Korean university archers, twelve arrows each at seventy metres on the 122 centimetre face, a group mean of 9.12 points per arrow. A single sample, eight people, in a regional journal: the reference exists but it stands on one leg.
2. 2009 Reported The same order of magnitude arrives from the top of the rankings: at the 2007 World Championships winning a twelve-arrow match took between 109 and 115 points out of 120. These are match scores and not qualification scores, and they concern the two world champions and their opponents: the reference grows stronger, but the picture stays descriptive and the status does not change.
3. 2012 Corroborated Two independent samples reach the same figure in the same year: three Malaysian national-squad archers in training between 8.86 and 9.14 points per arrow, and the reference archer of a methods study at 9.01 over seventy-two arrows. With four separate measurements converging and none going elsewhere, the status rises to corroborated. The underlying limit remains: these are all small samples.
4. 2015 Corroborated A confirmation from the top of the rankings, and nothing more: the threshold worked out from the twenty best world scores of 2009 to 2011 is 1320 points out of 1440, which is 55 per end of six. The work appears in a journal with doubtful editorial standards, so it decides nothing on its own and stays context: the status holds on the four samples from 2008 to 2012.
5. 2020 Corroborated Two more measurements, from different directions, and the same figure. Thirty-one elite Korean university and high-school archers shoot fifteen arrows at seventy metres at between 8.65 and 8.86 points per arrow: the largest sample so far, though on few arrows each. In the head-to-head matches of 120 international and national events from 2013 to 2019 the mean in the sets is 9.15 points per arrow; it mixes recurve and compound and takes in only matches that went to a shoot-off, so it stays context. No measurement points elsewhere and the status holds.

Related

Related articles

• I scored more and lost: how the set system worksSince 2010 a match has been decided by sets, not by adding up arrows. How it works, how often the lower total wins, and why it happens mostly between equals.
• What a top archer scores per arrow, and what level your own score matchesHow many points per arrow top archers score, how many competitive archers in the studies score, and how many tens the best archers shoot: the ladder by level.

Research lines

• 48 studiesWhat predicts the score, and how talent selection tried to use it
• 102 studiesFrom the total on the scorecard to the arrow's coordinates

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedAbout 150 points on a FITA round separate a club archer from a national-team archer13 studies · 492 archers measuredStatus since 2003
• CorroboratedAn archer's arousal rises with what is at stake, and keeps rising as the competition goes on3 studies · 23 archers measuredStatus since 2011
• CorroboratedArchers are more aroused in competition than in training5 studies · 50 archers measuredStatus since 2025
• CorroboratedEven in competition at the highest level, most arrows are not tens4 studies · 3,212 archers measuredStatus since 2024
• CorroboratedIn studies of competitive archers the mean score per arrow sits around seven points, not nine11 studies · 268 archers measuredStatus since 2026

See all claims on competition and scoring