One study found that arriving dehydrated at a hot competition does not lower the score

The summary today

There is a single experiment with readable figures on this question, and it is built the way it should be: ten national-level archers shoot the same round twice, a week apart, once hydrated and once after twenty-four hours on 1.25 litres of fluid, which is enough to put all of them past the dehydration threshold. Seventy-two arrows at seventy metres, at thirty-six to thirty-seven degrees and 81-83% humidity. The score does not drop: 550 points when hydrated against 562 when dehydrated, a difference that is not significant, and the archers who arrived most dehydrated were not the ones who lost most points. Everything else changes: when dehydrated the archers start the round with more thirst, more fatigue and less perceived concentration, and their heart rate is higher at rest and through the second half of the round. The target does not notice, in other words, but the archer does. The limit is simple: one experiment, ten people, and a round lasting a single morning, so the answer holds for that situation and not for more severe dehydration or for a multi-day tournament. A second experiment, on twenty Indonesian archers given 30% less water, reports a change in accuracy but publishes neither its size nor its direction, and for that reason it cannot be counted.

Also phrased as: "drinking too little in competition costs points"; "dehydration and accuracy in archery"; "hydration and score"; "how much to drink before a hot competition"

Evidence

• 2020
  For Archers Published later

  Ten Cypriot national-level archers, seven men and three women aged twenty-two, in a crossover design with the two trials a week apart: seventy-two arrows at seventy metres at thirty-six to thirty-seven degrees and 81-83% humidity. The score was 550 ± 63 when hydrated against 562 ± 59 when dehydrated, p = 0.155, while urine specific gravity rose from 1.015 ± 0.004 to 1.032 ± 0.005 (p < 0.001) after twenty-four hours on 1.25 litres of fluid instead of 3.

  Effects of Dehydration on Archery Performance, Subjective Feelings and Heart Rate during a Competition Simulation · Alexandros Savvides, Christoforos D. Giannaki, Angelos Vlahoyiannis, Pinelopi S. Stavrinou, George Aphamis

• 2020
  For Archers Published later

  In the same experiment the change in urine specific gravity does not track the change in each archer's score (figure 2): those who arrived most dehydrated were not those who lost most points. Within a sample of ten there is therefore not even a trace of a dose-response relationship, which is the most useful check when the group mean does not move.

  Effects of Dehydration on Archery Performance, Subjective Feelings and Heart Rate during a Competition Simulation · Alexandros Savvides, Christoforos D. Giannaki, Angelos Vlahoyiannis, Pinelopi S. Stavrinou, George Aphamis

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  The restriction protocol did what it was meant to do, which is what makes the result readable: on 1.25 litres of fluid over twenty-four hours all ten archers went past the 1.025 urine specific gravity threshold, averaging 1.032 ± 0.005 against 1.015 ± 0.004 after the 3 litres (p < 0.001), with the same water from food (about 1.2 litres) and the same diet plan. The condition tested was real dehydration, not a shade of it.

  Effects of Dehydration on Archery Performance, Subjective Feelings and Heart Rate during a Competition Simulation · Alexandros Savvides, Christoforos D. Giannaki, Angelos Vlahoyiannis, Pinelopi S. Stavrinou, George Aphamis

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  What changes is the feeling, not the target: at the start of the round, when dehydrated, the archers report more thirst (p = 0.003), more fatigue (p = 0.016) and lower concentration (p = 0.009). By the end of the round concentration is back to the same level in both conditions (p = 0.320) and alertness never differs (p = 0.223).

  Effects of Dehydration on Archery Performance, Subjective Feelings and Heart Rate during a Competition Simulation · Alexandros Savvides, Christoforos D. Giannaki, Angelos Vlahoyiannis, Pinelopi S. Stavrinou, George Aphamis

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  Heart rate behaves like the sense of fatigue: a condition effect of F(1,9) = 9.9 with p = 0.012, a higher rate at rest (p = 0.003) and on ends 7, 9, 10 and 11 (p from 0.016 to 0.043), while over the first six ends the two conditions stay alike (p > 0.106). In this round, the cost of dehydration shows up in the second half.

  Effects of Dehydration on Archery Performance, Subjective Feelings and Heart Rate during a Competition Simulation · Alexandros Savvides, Christoforos D. Giannaki, Angelos Vlahoyiannis, Pinelopi S. Stavrinou, George Aphamis

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  A round of seventy-two arrows at thirty-six to thirty-seven degrees is tiring either way: perceived fatigue rises over time (F(1,9) = 21.8, p = 0.001, eta squared 0.708) in both conditions, and so does thirst (F(1,9) = 56.5, p < 0.001, eta squared 0.863). During the two trials, which ran from 08:20 to 10:50, neither drinking nor eating was allowed.

  Effects of Dehydration on Archery Performance, Subjective Feelings and Heart Rate during a Competition Simulation · Alexandros Savvides, Christoforos D. Giannaki, Angelos Vlahoyiannis, Pinelopi S. Stavrinou, George Aphamis

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  Across fourteen measurements, from baseline to the end of each end, heart rate stays above the resting value for the whole round in both conditions: a time effect of F(13,117) = 136.3 with p < 0.001 and eta squared 0.931, a condition effect of F(1,9) = 9.9 with p = 0.012, and an interaction of F(13,117) = 2.2 with p = 0.006. Shooting seventy-two arrows in the heat, even standing still, is not a resting state.

  Effects of Dehydration on Archery Performance, Subjective Feelings and Heart Rate during a Competition Simulation · Alexandros Savvides, Christoforos D. Giannaki, Angelos Vlahoyiannis, Pinelopi S. Stavrinou, George Aphamis

• 2023
  Context Archers Published later

  20 Indonesian standard-bow and recurve archers, chosen from 35 in one district, mostly young: 36 arrows at 30 metres on the first day with water needs fully met and on the second with 30% less, hydration estimated from urine colour. The paired t on accuracy is 5.258 in the table and the text, with p given as 0.00, but in the abstract the same comparison has t = 15.215, which the table assigns to hydration. No means or standard deviations, so the direction of the change cannot be read from the data; the order of the two days is fixed, the field is outdoors but the temperature is not reported, and the journal has questionable editorial standards. It would point against the claim, but a result with no readable figures is not counted on either side.

  The effect of water consumption level on dehydration status and archery accuracy in banyumas regency archery athletes Questionable venue · Febriansyah Dwi Cahyo, Yudik Prasetyo, Cerika Rismayanthi, Enggista Hendriko Delano

• 2024
  Context Archers Published later

  Six world-class archers followed through an international tournament: hydration status is measured by urine specific gravity and colour, and the athletes come out slightly hypohydrated on waking, while before and after shooting the picture stays in order. Score is never related to hydration: the study describes a habit, it does not compare two conditions.

  Energy intake, hydration status, and sleep of world-class male archers during competition · Ozcan Esen, Ian Walshe, Stuart Goodall

Status history

1. 2019 Not studied The registry has nothing on this question yet: nobody has had the same archer shoot a full round first hydrated and then dehydrated, so the advice to drink circulates with no measurement behind it.
2. 2020 Reported The crossover experiment on ten national-level archers arrives: seventy-two arrows at seventy metres at thirty-six to thirty-seven degrees, once after three litres of fluid a day and once after 1.25 litres. The score does not drop, and is in fact slightly higher when dehydrated, while the degree of dehydration does not track the change in any individual's score; thirst, fatigue, perceived concentration and heart rate all get worse instead. The design is the right one, because each archer serves as his or her own control, but there is one study and ten people in it: the claim is written in the direction of the result and goes no further than reported.
3. 2023 Reported A second experiment arrives, on twenty Indonesian archers who shoot 36 arrows at 30 metres one day fully hydrated and the next with 30% less water. The authors write that accuracy changes significantly, but publish neither the means nor the direction of the change, the two days always come in the same order, and the abstract and the table swap the two test values between accuracy and hydration. In a journal with questionable editorial standards and with no figure to read, the result cannot be counted for or against: the status stays reported, resting on the 2020 experiment.
4. 2024 Reported In four years nobody puts the score to the test again with figures that can be read. The other study of archers that looks at hydration follows six world-class athletes through an international tournament and only measures how hydrated they are, finding them slightly dehydrated on waking and in order before and after shooting: it describes a habit rather than comparing two conditions. The status stays where it was, resting on a single experiment.

Related

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• Wind and weather conditions in archery: how to read and manage themHow far the wind moves an arrow and why, how many points it costs, how to read and correct for it, and what the data say about rain, cold and heat.
• Hydration and nutrition on competition day in archery: a practical guideHow much to drink and what to eat on competition day in archery: what the day costs, what dehydration changes and what studies on archers have measured.
• Does the score drop in the second half of a competition? Fatigue and the scorecard comparedIn the studies that split a round into two halves, reported fatigue rises and the score does not. What they measured, how firm it is and where they stop.

Research lines

• 14 studiesWater, food and sleep on competition days
• 8 studiesWhat a competition day weighs

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