Between one and a half and two tenths of a second pass between the clicker sounding and the arrow leaving

The summary today

This is a measurement rather than an opinion, and it is one of the few points in the registry where independent research groups report close figures. Since 1987 six groups, with different instruments and at distances from 8 to 90 m, have found an interval of the same order between the click and the release: the measurements from 1987 to 1993 sit around 180 milliseconds, those since 2010 between 140 and 165, and the full range of values measured runs from 120 to 240. The interval narrows in the more skilled archers, and in the largest sample, thirty-nine elite archers, it varies from one person to the next by only 10.4 per cent. For a trained archer the interval therefore sits between one and a half and two tenths of a second: closer to two tenths in the measurements of the 1980s and 1990s, closer to one and a half in today's. What the figure does not tell us is what fills that time: the same duration fits both a reaction to the sound and the tail end of a movement already under way, and these data do not choose between the two readings.

Also phrased as: "how long from clicker to release"; "reaction time to the clicker"; "delay between click and release"; "clicker reaction duration"; "two tenths of a second after the clicker"; "one and a half tenths after the clicker"

Evidence

• 1987
  For Archers Published later

  12 Japanese archers aged 18 to 24 split into three levels, 20 arrows at 8 m with 15 to 20 seconds between them, electromyography synchronised with the clicker: in the most skilled group the release comes 170 to 180 milliseconds after the click, and the authors read that time as a reaction to the sound.

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

• 1987
  Context Archers Published later

  In the same sample the time from clicker to release varies widely across levels, from about 140 to 240 milliseconds over all twelve, while in the most skilled it narrows to between 170 and 180. This is the figure that makes the average of little use on its own: the spread says more than the central value.

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

• 1990
  For Archers Published later

  15 archers of the United States national team, mean FITA score 1,211 out of 1,440, 6 arrows each with clicker and release synchronised: the click precedes the release by 185 milliseconds on average. In the same window the activity of the flexor digitorum superficialis stays almost flat for 900 milliseconds and drops only in the last 100 millisecond interval.

  Electromyographic analysis of bow string release in highly skilled archers · Philip E. Martin, William L. Siler, Dean Hoffman

• 1992
  For Archers Published later

  15 experienced recurve archers, 8 from the United States squad above 1,250 FITA and 7 below 1,150: between the clicker contact closing and the release, picked up by an inertial switch on the stabiliser, about 180 milliseconds pass. Same laboratory as in 1990 and a partly overlapping sample, so it counts as a confirmation of the method rather than as a third independent sample.

  Archery Bow Grip Force Distribution: Relationships with Performance and Fatigue · Philip E. Martin, Gary D. Heise

• 1993
  For Archers Published later

  5 elite and 3 university-level archers, 36 arrows at 90 m, with a displacement sensor on the lower limb of the bow: between the clicker contact closing and the sudden drop in the signal, which marks the release, about 120 to 200 milliseconds pass.

  Biomechanical Study of the Final Push-Pull in Archery · P. Leroyer, J. Van Hoecke, J.N. Helal

• 2011
  For Archers Published later

  4 elite archers from the Turkish national team, 108 arrows at 18 m indoors, with an archery chronometer measuring the time from the clicker dropping to release: 143.4 milliseconds on arrows scoring 8, 142.5 on 9s and 142.3 on 10s, with standard deviations between 14 and 19. The value does not change with score, r equal to minus 0.029. The same shots also appear in a 2010 paper and count once.

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

• 2017
  For Archers Published later

  39 elite recurve archers from four countries, 23 men and 16 women, tested before a World Cup event, with a microphone near the archer recording the sound of the clicker and of the release: the time between the two averages 0.163 seconds, with a standard deviation of 0.017, a spread of 10.4 per cent between archers. In the regression a shorter time goes with a better score, but the spread is so small that it is worth 0.54 points at most.

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

• 2020
  For Archers Published later

  A single skilled recurve archer, three drawing techniques with three arrows each, two force plates and an accelerometer on the riser: with the usual high draw the time from clicker to release is 161 milliseconds, standard deviation 34, and with a low draw 163; with a direct draw the archer does not normally use it rises to 304, with a much wider spread. One case and nine arrows: it confirms the order of magnitude, it is not a sample.

  Effect of bow drawing technique on skilled archer postural stability: a case study · A. Kuch, J.-F. Debril, M. Domalain, R. Tisserand, T. Monnet

Status history

1. 1987 Reported The first measurement in the bibliography is on twelve Japanese archers at 8 m: in the most skilled group the release comes between 170 and 180 milliseconds after the click, while across all twelve the interval runs from about 140 to 240. One research group, a distance that is not a competition distance and twelve people, so the evidence is there but limited.
2. 1990 Corroborated A second group, independent of the first, measures the same thing on fifteen archers of the United States national team and finds a mean of 185 milliseconds, with the drop in the finger flexors concentrated in the last tenth of a second before release. Two independent samples, a direct instrumental measurement and no contrary result: the duration can be taken as stable, though it remains a description rather than a link to score.
3. 1992 Corroborated The same laboratory repeats the measurement with a different method, an electrical contact on the clicker and an inertial switch on the stabiliser, and finds about 180 milliseconds again. The sample partly overlaps the 1990 one, so this is not an independent replication and by our rule it counts only once: the status stays where it was.
4. 1993 Corroborated A third group, on eight French archers of two levels at 90 m, finds a delay of 120 to 200 milliseconds between the clicker contact closing and the sudden drop in the displacement signal, which is the release. Three laboratories, three distances and the same order of magnitude: this measurement is as firm as anything on the point.
5. 2011 Corroborated Eighteen years after the French measurement a purpose-built chronometer appears: in four elite archers at 18 m the release follows the clicker by about 143 milliseconds, the same value on arrows scoring 8, 9 and 10. It is a fourth independent group, and the figure sits a little below the 180 of the 1990s while staying inside the range already measured. The status holds.
6. 2017 Corroborated The largest sample in the bibliography, thirty-nine elite archers from four countries tested before a World Cup event, gives a mean of 0.163 seconds, with a spread between archers of only 10.4 per cent. The figure confirms the measurement and places it, as in 2011, towards the lower end of the historical range: a good one and a half tenths rather than a full two.
7. 2020 Corroborated A single case, a skilled archer trying three ways of drawing, finds 161 milliseconds with the usual technique and 163 with a low draw, while with a technique the archer does not use the time rises to 304. It adds no sample, but it hints that the usual figure belongs to the trained movement: change the movement and the interval grows longer and less regular.

Related

Related articles

• The clicker: the science of a tenth of a secondWhat research measures about the clicker: reaction time, the muscles of the release, its weight on the score and what happens to draw length without it.
• Why target panic happens (and why calling it mental is not enough)My hypothesis on target panic: under pressure the release de-automatizes, dropping back to conscious control too slow to run it. With what the studies say.
• The final pull: what happens in the last millimetres before the clickerHow many millimetres and seconds the final pull takes, how it differs between better and worse arrows, and what the aim and the muscles do as the clicker drops.

Research lines

• 24 studiesThe passive release: fifty years to take an idea apart
• 102 studiesFrom the total on the scorecard to the arrow's coordinates

Other claims in this domain

• ReportedA camera diagonally behind the archer measures the vertical sway of the aim well, but not the horizontal1 study · 3 archers measuredStatus since 2010
• ReportedA continuous final pull through the clicker leads to better shots9 studies · 56 archers measuredStatus since 1993
• ReportedA sound or light cue about the angle of the bow arm tightens beginners' groups2 studies · 1 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• ReportedA thumb grip on the string is less tiring than a finger grip3 studies · 9 archers measuredStatus since 1990
• ReportedA two-finger string grip is about as accurate as a three-finger one1 study · 9 archers measuredStatus since 1990

See all claims on technique and biomechanics