Top archers shoot moderate draw weights, between thirty and forty pounds

The summary today

It depends on when and whom you look at, and the figures split. The measurements that sit inside the band come from tiny groups: three Australian national-level recurve archers in 1990, with 30, 35 and 36 lb, plus a compound that dropped to 30 at full draw; four from the Turkish national team in 2010, with 16.9 kg, about 37 lb; fourteen from the Polish national team in 2023, with bows between 36 and 40 lb. The larger and more recent samples, all recurve, sit above it: at the 2012 European outdoor championships the mean was 42.9 lb, at the 2025 World Cup stage in Shanghai it was 46.8, with values from 37.2 to 58.3, and 39 elite archers measured before a World Cup event reported an average of 24.55 kg, about 54 lb, a high figure for a group with sixteen women out of thirty-nine, printed in the same table that gives arrows of 644 mm on average, short for that level: the units in that paper leave a doubt the text does not resolve. These samples do not split the data by sex and mix men and women in different proportions, which alone is enough to shift the mean by several pounds. What can be said is that thirty to forty pounds describes the small national-team groups of 1990 and 2010 and part of today's national teams well, not the top of recurve as the larger samples show it. The band most often quoted today, forty to fifty pounds, matches the average of recent international samples, but within a single group the standard deviation reaches six pounds, and no average says what the individual top archer shoots.

Also phrased as: "how much draw weight do champions shoot"; "top archers don't shoot heavy bows"; "draw weight of elite archers"; "what draw weight do Olympic archers use"; "how many pounds do Olympic archers pull"; "draw weight of an Olympic archer"; "typical elite recurve draw weight"; "what draw weight do recurve champions shoot"

Evidence

• 1981
  Context Archers Published later

  Six male Japanese university archers, chosen among those scoring at least 320 out of 360 at 30 m, with one to three years of practice: a stated draw weight of 36 lb on average and 36.5 measured with a dynamometer, on draw lengths between 27.5 and 29 inches. The authors compare them with Japan's Olympic candidates and find them similar in height, weight and strength, apart from slightly lower shoulder-arm strength; they remain club archers, not top-level ones.

  Physical Fitness and Energy Metabolism of the Archers (1) · Koji Tsuji, Hide Takeyama, Hideo Koishi, Yoshiho Katayama

• 1987
  Context Archers Published later

  An electromyographic study of Japanese archers: in one skilled archer, with a strain gauge on the bow, a tension of about 18 kg, just under 40 lb, is released all at once at the shot. It is a single archer, measured to study the muscles rather than draw weight.

  Analysis of Archery Shooting Techniques by Means of Electromyography · H. Nishizono, H. Shibayama, T. Izuta, K. Saito

• 1990
  For Archers Published later

  Four elite Australian archers, two men and two women, national representatives and state champions: the three on Olympic recurve shot 30, 35 and 36 lb, the woman on 30 also 34 on barebow, and the fourth a compound peaking at 60 lb that drops to 30 at full draw, all shooting with a clicker. It is the descriptive table of a study on heartbeat, not a survey.

  Fine Body Movements and the Cardiac Cycle in Archery · David Keast, Bruce Elliott

• 1998
  Context Model Published later

  The model of bow-arrow interaction takes as its reference competition bow a 66-inch, 34 lb Hoyt Pro Medallist, which exerts 143 N at a draw length of 64.5 cm. It is a catalogue bow used as an input, not a measurement on archers.

  Bow-arrow interaction in archery · B. W. Kooi

• 2010
  For Archers Published later

  Four women from the Turkish national team, 30 arrows each at 18 m indoors: a draw weight of 16.9 ± 0.1 kg, about 37 lb, with an average body mass of 54 kg. The 2011 paper reporting the same data describes the group as male.

  Shooting Dynamics in Archery · M. Emre Erkek, Cevdet Tinazci

• 2011
  Context Archers Published later

  The same data as the 2010 paper, with the same means (16.9 ± 0.1 kg draw weight, 54 kg body mass, 168 cm height), here attributed to four male Turkish national-team archers shooting Olympic recurve. It counts as a single study with the earlier one, and the discrepancy over the sex of the sample remains open.

  Shooting dynamics in archery: A multidimensional analysis from drawing to releasing in male archers · Cevdet Tinazci

• 2017
  Against Archers Published later

  39 elite recurve archers from four nations, 23 men and 16 women, measured before a World Cup stage, in a group holding Olympic, World Championship and World Cup medals: self-reported draw weight of 24.55 ± 2.53 kg, about 54 lb on average, well above forty. Draw weight was reported by the archers, not measured, and the same table gives arrows of 644 mm on average, short for that level: the figures are printed that way, but the units leave a doubt.

  Postural stability, clicker reaction time and bow draw force predict performance in elite recurve archery · Wayne Spratford, Rhiannon Campbell

• 2018
  Against Archers Published later

  62 recurve archers at the 2012 German indoor championship and European outdoor championships, by injury questionnaire: those competing at the European event reported 42.9 ± 5.9 lb, those at the German championship 38.5 ± 4.8 (p = 0.003). The thirty-to-forty band describes the national level, while the European group sits above it on average.

  Acute and Overuse Injuries in Elite Archers · Claudia K. Niestroj, Volker Schöffl, Thomas Küpper

• 2023
  For Archers Published later

  14 archers from the Polish national team, seven men and seven women, compared with 14 beginners: the national-team archers had bows set between 36 and 40 lb, while for those starting out the study's coaches advised no more than 30. Draw weight is a background detail in a study on movement control, given as a range rather than archer by archer.

  Dynamical Analyses Show That Professional Archers Exhibit Tighter, Finer and More Fluid Dynamical Control than Neophytes · Hesam Azadjou, Michalina Błażkiewicz, Andrew Erwin, Francisco J. Valero-Cuevas

• 2023
  Context Archers Published later

  33 Indian archers aged 16 to 21 selected for the Asia Cup trials, recurve and compound together: draw weight of 44.8 ± 8.1 lb, from 26 to 60. It pools the two divisions, and compound bows draw more pounds by design, so it does not say where recurve sits.

  Anthropometric Measures of Elite Indian Archer: Identification of Features for Talent Development · Jayashree Mazumder

• 2025
  Against Archers Published later

  Competition data from the 2025 World Cup stage in Shanghai, 61 archers across recurve and compound: in recurve the mean draw weight is 46.77 ± 5.95 lb, from 37.20 to 58.30, with men and women together. The paper does not say how many of the 61 shoot recurve.

  Empirical analysis of the impact of bow parameters on arrow velocity: A study of World Cup archers based on energy transfer and aerodynamics · Feixue Rao, Jiasheng Lv, Haidong Chen, Peijin Li, Hao Huang

• 2025
  Context Model Published later

  A numerical model of the arrow's lateral dynamics, written for recurve, gives 40 to 50 lb as the usual draw weight of elite archers, citing another source: it is a starting point, not a measurement.

  Modelling Arrow Dynamics for Optimised Recurve Archery Arrow Selection · Alex Williams

• 2026
  Context Archers Published later

  12 Turkish university recurve archers using their own equipment: bows of 66 to 70 inches with draw weights between 34 and 42 lb. Competitive, but not top level.

  An ergogenic approach to enhancing performance in archery: the acute effects of caffeine · Üstün Türker, Zeynep Hazal Ateş, Mümine Görgülü, Fatih Kıyıcı, Serdar Bayrakdaroğlu

• 2026
  Context Archers Published later

  45 provincial-level recurve archers in the Fars region of Iran, men and women together: 40.6 ± 4.1 lb, from 34 to 48. Published in a journal with questionable editorial standards, and in any case it does not concern the top level.

  Relationship between dietary tryptophan intake, pre-competition cognitive anxiety and shooting accuracy in archers Questionable venue · Yalda Darvishi

Status history

1. 1981 Not studied The first draw weight measured on archers in the bibliography comes from six Japanese university archers scoring at least 320 out of 360 at 30 m: 36 lb stated, 36.5 measured. They are club archers with one to three years of practice, not top-level ones, so the question of what the best archers shoot has not yet been touched.
2. 1990 Reported The first snapshot of the top level arrives. Of four Australian national-level archers, two men and two women, the three on Olympic recurve shot 30, 35 and 36 lb, the woman on 30 shot 34 on barebow, and the compound dropped to 30 at full draw from a peak of 60. It supports the band, but it is four people in a descriptive table: reported.
3. 2010 Reported A second, independent group, four women from the Turkish national team, draws 16.9 kg, about 37 lb. Two observations agree, but on eight people in all and with no design built for the question: the status stays reported and does not rise.
4. 2017 Contested The first large sample of elite recurve archers points the other way: 39 archers from four nations, measured before a World Cup stage, report an average of 24.55 kg, about 54 lb. The figure is high for a group with sixteen women, and the same table gives arrows that are short for that level, so the units leave a doubt; but it is printed that way, and beside two small groups in favour there is now a larger study against: contested.
5. 2018 Contested At the 2012 European outdoor championships recurve archers reported 42.9 lb on average, against 38.5 at the German indoor championship. The thirty-to-forty band describes the national level, while the international group sits above it: a second study against, and the status stays contested.
6. 2023 Contested The Polish national team, seven men and seven women, shoots between 36 and 40 lb: a third group supporting the band, small once again. In the same year 33 young Indian archers of national and international level sit at 44.8 lb, but they pool recurve and compound and count on neither side. The picture stays split: contested.
7. 2025 Contested Competition data from the Shanghai World Cup stage give recurve a mean draw weight of 46.8 lb, from 37.2 to 58.3, and a model from the same year gives 40 to 50 lb as the usual figure for elite archers, citing another source. Three small groups in favour and three larger samples against: contested, with the figures for today's recurve leaning towards draw weights above forty.

Related

Related articles

• Draw weight and score in the research: how much do the pounds matter?What studies have measured on draw weight and score: a small effect tied to skill level, top archers' draw weights over time, speed and control.
• The archer's back: how much draw weight loads it and what the asymmetry of shooting leaves behindHow much a 20 to 32 pound bow loads the lower back, why trunk and body mass matter, and what the studies say about asymmetry in archers' bodies.

Research lines

• 27 studiesHow many pounds archers draw: measurements since 1967
• 24 studiesThe passive release: fifty years to take an idea apart

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedAlong its flight the arrow loses an appreciable part of its launch speed12 studiesStatus since 2011
• CorroboratedAs it leaves the bow, the arrow flexes and snakes around the riser instead of leaving straight19 studies · 47 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA camera-based scoring system misreads some arrows: the ones barely sticking out and the ones that shift the target face7 studies · 2 archers measuredStatus since 2017
• ReportedA chest band with fibre optic sensors measures breathing and mean heart rate with small errors, and an archer can wear it while shooting2 studiesStatus since 2019
• ReportedA compound bow stores between 70 and 100 joules and sheds about two thirds of the force at full draw4 studiesStatus since 2015

See all claims on equipment and tuning