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Even among elite archers, many show signs of twisting the bow

1 study · 16 archers measured

ForContextAgainst201220142016201820202022202420262012, for, n = 162012, context, n = 16
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

There is only one study, but it is hard to imagine a higher-level sample: sixteen national team archers filmed at high speed at the test event for the London 2012 Games. In seven of them the arrow's behaviour gives away a twist of the bow: the ratio between the first and second flex falls outside the 0.6 to 0.8 band of the other nine, and the back of the arrow clears the button by 2 to 5 mm, or by 12 or 25 mm, instead of the usual 8 to 10. The same footage often shows where it comes from, with the wrist off the plane of the bow or the tip of the thumb pressing on the side of the riser. The twist, though, is inferred from the arrow through a subjective judgement rather than measured on the bow, which does not visibly rotate before the arrow leaves in any of the sixteen, and the study does not say what it costs in points: the authors note, on the contrary, that if the movement is repeated identically on every arrow, the score can still be impressive.

Also phrased as: "torquing the bow"; "twisting the grip"; "thumb pressing on the riser"; "wrist off-centre on the grip"; "even champions torque the bow"

In practice

Archers are taught that the bow hand must stay neutral and relaxed, with the push going through the centre of the grip, and that bow torque is a beginner's fault corrected through hand position.

Evidence

  • 2012
    For Archers Published later

    16 right-handed national team recurve archers, 8 men and 8 women, filmed at 4,000 frames per second at the test event for the London 2012 Games: in 9 the ratio between the arrow's first and second flex was 0.6 to 0.8 and the back of the arrow cleared the button by 8 to 10 mm, consistent with an untwisted bow; in 5 the ratio was 0.4 to 0.6 with a clearance of 2 to 5 mm, a likely counter-clockwise twist seen from above; in one it was 0.9 and 12 mm, in another 1.0 and 25 mm, a clockwise twist. The authors conclude that 7 out of 16 were strongly suspected of twisting the bow.

    High-speed video analysis of arrow behaviour during the power stroke of a recurve archery bow · James L Park, Oliver Logan

  • 2012
    For Archers Published later

    In the same study hand position explains the twist: in the 2 archers with a clockwise twist the wrist joint sat to the left of the plane of the bow, as seen by the archer (obvious in one, inferred in the other from a thumb not aligned with the target); in 3 of the 5 with a counter-clockwise twist the end bone of the thumb was pressing on the side of the bow, and in one more the thumb was not aligned with the target.

    High-speed video analysis of arrow behaviour during the power stroke of a recurve archery bow · James L Park, Oliver Logan

  • 2012
    Context Archers Published later

    The twist is judged subjectively, from the arrow's behaviour and the hand position: in none of the 16 does the bow move sideways by more than 1 mm or rotate by more than 0.1° before the arrow leaves the string. The study does not measure score, and the authors observe that a fault of this kind, if repeated identically on every arrow, is compatible with impressive scores.

    High-speed video analysis of arrow behaviour during the power stroke of a recurve archery bow · James L Park, Oliver Logan

Status history

  1. 2012 Reported In high-speed footage of sixteen national team archers, seven show signs of a twist: a ratio between the arrow's first and second flex outside the normal band and a clearance between the back of the arrow and the button of 2 to 25 mm instead of the usual 8 to 10. The same footage shows where it comes from, the wrist off the plane of the bow or the tip of the thumb pressing on the side of the riser. It is a single study, and the twist is inferred from the arrow's behaviour: reported.

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Research lines

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Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Even among elite archers, many show signs of twisting the bow (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/technique/bow-torque-elite-archers

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_torsionearcofrequenteelite,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Even among elite archers, many show signs of twisting the bow},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/technique/bow-torque-elite-archers},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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