Holding aim for too long makes the shot worse

The summary today

This is the question the data argue about most, and it is easy to see why. On the side of the claim there is a correlation between mean aiming time and FITA score in twelve Italian archers, two university archers with a shorter aim on their better arrows, eight Brazilian archers whose worst arrow follows an aim of three and a half seconds against two, and the French elite archers who aim for less time than intermediates. There is also the only experiment with figures, a British master's dissertation from 2015: eight elite archers made to hold the aim for three times their usual time drop from 8.60 to 7.75 points per arrow at seventy metres, but the conditions always come in the same order and fatigue cannot be separated from duration. On the other side sits the better sample: sixteen young Malaysian recurve archers measured over five hundred and seventy-six arrows at seventy metres, where the better eight aim longer than the weaker eight and, arrow by arrow, the length of the aim says nothing about the score. In between are the studies that find no relation at all, a competition in which a longer time per shot goes with higher scores, and two elite samples where the link changes from one archer to the next and in opposite directions. That last result explains the others: the group average adds up contrary behaviours and cancels them out. A systematic review concluded in 2022 that there is no agreement on this, and nothing has changed since.

Also phrased as: "aiming time"; "how long to hold aim"; "holding too long"; "letting down when the aim is not ready"; "aiming duration and score"

Evidence

• 1971
  Against Kyudo archers Published later

  3 kyudo archers, surface electromyography on fourteen muscles with the force on the bow measured by a strain gauge: the hold on aim, the kai, lasts about 5 seconds in the expert against about 2 in the beginner, and the authors put it down to the balance of tension between the two arms. Three people and no statistics, but the direction is the opposite of the claim's.

  An Electromyographic Analysis of Japanese Archery · Sadatsugu Kamei, Hideji Matsui, Mitsumasa Miyashita

• 1990
  Context Archers Published later

  4 elite Australian archers, 240 arrows at 30 m classed as good, medium and poor, across two sessions up to 100 days apart: in two performances aiming time grew on the poorer arrows and in three it shrank, barebow included. The same study, within itself, gives both directions.

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

• 1990
  Against Archers Published later

  7 elite archers at 70 and 90 metres, one of the four experiments in a study using surface electromyography: no relation between integrated muscle activity, aiming time, draw time and accuracy, and no difference in accuracy with and without stabilisers at the same distance.

  Muscular Activity of Different Shooting Distances, Different Release Techniques, and Different Performance Levels, with and without Stabilizers, in Target Archery · J.P. Clarys, J. Cabri, E. Bollens, R. Sleeckx, J. Taeymans, M. Vermeiren, et al.

• 1994
  For Archers Published later

  12 Italian recurve archers, 7 intermediates with FITA scores between 1,180 and 1,300 and 5 high-level ones above 1,300, 20 shots at 12 m with three-dimensional analysis, electromyography and a force plate: mean aiming-phase duration correlates with FITA score at r = -0.72, so those who aim longer have the lower score. It is a comparison between archers, not between arrows from the same archer.

  Multifactorial analysis of shooting archery · Roberto Squadrone, R. Rodano

• 2005
  For Archers Published later

  A review chapter reporting a study of 10 archers from the Italian women's national squad: the score was best in the release condition the athletes chose themselves and worst when the release was delayed by five seconds beyond normal. It is the closest thing to an experiment on this question, but it comes second-hand and the chapter reports no figures.

  Psychological Aspects of Archery · Kathleen M. Haywood

• 2009
  Context Archers Published later

  The two individual recurve winners at the 2007 World Championships and their 14 opponents, from the round of 64 to the final, timed phase by phase: the men's champion held his aim for between 2.65 and 4.37 seconds on average per match, the women's champion between 0.61 and 1.24, with their opponents between 1.70 and 6.86 and between 2.00 and 4.60. There is no winners' aiming time.

  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

• 2010
  Against Archers Published later

  4 elite women archers from the Turkish national squad, 108 arrows at 18 m indoors measured with an optical aim-tracking system: the time spent on the target is 3.6 / 3.7 / 3.7 seconds for arrows scoring 8, 9 and 10 (F = 0.07; r = 0.022). The length of the aim does not separate the arrows.

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

• 2010
  For Archers Published later

  The same study and the same 108 arrows, but a different measure: total draw time is 5.6 / 5.0 / 4.8 seconds for arrows scoring 8, 9 and 10 (F = 5.0; p < 0.05; r = -0.280), while time at full draw, 2.6 / 2.4 / 2.3 seconds, is not significant. The shorter shot goes with the better arrow, but the part that shortens is not the aim.

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

• 2011
  Against Archers Published later

  17 adolescent archers, 10 experienced and 7 novices, around a thousand arrows in an indoor competition at 18 m: in the multiple regression on arrow score, time per shot has beta = 0.311, p < 0.001, so more time goes with higher scores (overall model R² = 0.118). Mind the measure: that time covers the whole sequence, from taking the arrow out of the quiver to the release, not the aim alone. And the p-value is inflated: the regression has 996 degrees of freedom, so it treats the roughly thousand arrows as if they came from a thousand people, when they come from seventeen.

  Autonomic nervous system modulation during an archery competition in novice and experienced adolescent archers · Andres E. Carrillo, Vasilios X. Christodoulou, Yiannis Koutedakis, Andreas D. Flouris

• 2011
  Context Archers Published later

  The same sample, comparison between levels: from taking the arrow to the release there are 28.1 ± 7.4 seconds in the experienced archers against 20.2 ± 7.4 in the novices (p < 0.001; eta² = 0.24). Archers with four years of practice spend eight seconds longer on each arrow than those with four months.

  Autonomic nervous system modulation during an archery competition in novice and experienced adolescent archers · Andres E. Carrillo, Vasilios X. Christodoulou, Yiannis Koutedakis, Andreas D. Flouris

• 2011
  Against Archers Published later

  The second publication of the same experiment, 4 elite archers and the same 108 arrows: time on target 3.6 / 3.7 / 3.7 seconds (F = 0.07; r = 0.022) and time at full draw 2.6 / 2.4 / 2.3 (F = 1.6, not significant). Figures identical to the 2010 paper: it is the same sample and counts once.

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

• 2014
  Context Archers Published later

  A qualitative observation by the authors at the 2013 World Championships in strong wind, on compound head-to-head matches: those who reached the final stages let the release go as soon as the sight reached the centre, instead of squeezing the trigger slowly while trying to hold the aim. No figures reported.

  Analysis of scores and arrow grouping at major international archery competitions · James L Park, James E Larven

• 2015
  For Archers Published later

  8 elite recurve archers from the British squad (6 men and 2 women, mean age 21), six arrows at 70 m with their usual aiming time, then six at double and six at triple that time, with an audible cue telling them when to release: the mean score per arrow falls from 8.60 to 8.13 and to 7.75 (Friedman χ² = 7.80, p = 0.02), and the spread of scores widens. After correction for multiple comparisons only the step from the usual time to triple is significant (p = 0.004), not the step to double (p = 0.04 against a threshold of 0.017) nor the one from double to triple (p = 0.16). Five of the six reference points on the shoulders, elbows and wrists move faster as the aim gets longer; the shoulder of the drawing arm does not. The three conditions always come in the same order, so fatigue cannot be separated from duration, and it is a master's dissertation.

  Stability of alignment during extended hold times in the aiming phase of elite archers · Lewis Marsden

• 2016
  For Archers Published later

  2 university recurve archers with at least a year of competition, accelerometers on both arms, 18 arrows each at 70 m: aiming time was 4.2 ± 1.4 seconds on arrows scoring 1 to 4, 3.0 ± 1.4 on those scoring 5 to 7 and 2.9 ± 0.4 on those scoring 8 to 10. Two archers, 36 arrows and no statistical tests.

  Correlation between Archer's Hands Movement While Shooting and its Score · Zahari Taha, Jessnor Arif Mat-Jizat, Syed Faris Syed Omar, Edin Suwarganda

• 2016
  Against Archers Published later

  15 archers of mixed level, 449 shots at 18 m: a longer aiming time went with arrows slightly closer to the centre (r = -0.117), a small effect. The authors themselves suggest that indoors archers may tend to over-aim and that distance could change the result.

  Identification of temporal factors related to shot performance for indoor recurve archery · Andrew J. Callaway, Johanna Wiedlack, Mario Heller

• 2019
  For Archers Published later

  10 club-registered compound women archers, aged 18 to 30, measured during menstruation and outside it: outside menstruation a longer time from draw to release goes with lower scores (r = -0.69, p < 0.05), while during menstruation the association vanishes (r = 0.13). Ten people, two measurements each, in a journal with doubtful editorial standards.

  Investigation factors that effect shooting performance in the menstrual period of female archery athletes Questionable venue · Sevinc Serin, Yakup Akif Afyon

• 2020
  For Archers Published later

  8 national-level recurve archers, 6 arrows each at 13 m: comparing each archer's best and worst shot, on the worst the aim was on average longer, 3.55 ± 1.68 against 2.07 ± 1.19 seconds (Z = -2.100; p = 0.036). It is a group test, and does not hold for every single archer.

  Relationship between bow stability and postural control in recurve archery · Karine Jacon Sarro, Thaynã de Castro Viana, Ricardo Machado Leite de Barros

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  6 Austrian archers of mixed level, two of them elite, four ends of six arrows at 18 m indoors with acceleration sensors: shots scoring 10 have the shortest median duration from raising the bow to release, but the worst shots are not the longest, because the longest median belongs to the 9s. No statistical tests.

  Use of Acceleration Sensors in Archery · Markus Eckelt, Franziska Mally, Angelika Brunner

• 2020
  Context Archers Published later

  Automatic clustering of the shots of 5 recurve archers by the angular velocity of the bow: in one archer the two clusters differed in the length of the aim, about 4 seconds against 2.5, and the one with the shorter aim showed more bow shake. One archer, no statistical tests, no scores.

  Archery shots visualization by clustering and comparing from angular velocities of bows · Midori Kawaguchi, Hironori Mitake, Shoichi Hasegawa

• 2021
  Context Archers Published later

  11 Japanese university recurve archers, 72 arrows each: the shortest aiming period across all the shots of all the participants is 1.8 seconds, which is why the authors analysed a fixed window from 1.2 to 0.2 seconds before the release. It says how long the aim really lasts: never a matter of tenths of a second.

  Archery Skill Assessment Using an Acceleration Sensor · Takayuki Ogasawara, Hanako Fukamachi, Kenryu Aoyagi, Shiro Kumano, Hiroyoshi Togo, Koichiro Oka

• 2021
  Context Archers Published later

  31 Thai archers with international experience, an average of 6.2 international competitions each, filmed over three ends of five arrows at 70 m: the authors' technical sheet gives an average of 4.60 seconds between settling on aim and the release. It is a technical description, in a journal with doubtful editorial standards, and it does not relate the time to the score.

  Efficient Archery Posture Training Analysis of Archery Performances for the Talent Development and Excellence Achievements Questionable venue · Chaturong Hemara, Pravet Ketkan, Juthamas Singchainara, Toansakul Tony Santiboon

• 2022
  Context Review Published later

  Systematic review of 41 studies: there is no agreement on the link between aiming time and score. The five studies on this point involve two to eight archers apart from one, and the review lists them on both sides, with a longer aim turning out more accurate in one and less accurate in two others.

  Performance assessment in archery: a systematic review · Eleonora Vendrame, Valeria Belluscio, Luigi Truppa, Lorenzo Rum, Aldo Lazich, Elena Bergamini, Andrea Mannini

• 2023
  Against Archers Published later

  16 Malaysian state-level junior recurve archers, aged 16.2 ± 1.6, video analysis of 576 arrows at 70 m, split into the better 8 and the poorer 8: the phase from anchor to release lasts 3.38 seconds in the better group against 2.72 in the poorer one (medians, p < 0.001), with 8 points per arrow against 7. Those who shoot better aim longer.

  Comparison of Shooting Time Characteristics and Shooting Posture Between High- and Low- Performance Archers · Jiun Sien Lau, Rosniwati Ghafar, Erie Zuraidee Zulkifli, Hairul Anuar Hashim, Harsa Amylia Mat Sakim

• 2023
  Against Archers Published later

  The same sample, read arrow by arrow: the aiming phase lasts 3.32 ± 1.60 seconds and its Spearman correlation with score is r = 0.016, p = 0.704, across all 576 arrows. It is the largest sample to have measured individual arrows, and it finds nothing.

  Comparison of Shooting Time Characteristics and Shooting Posture Between High- and Low- Performance Archers · Jiun Sien Lau, Rosniwati Ghafar, Erie Zuraidee Zulkifli, Hairul Anuar Hashim, Harsa Amylia Mat Sakim

• 2024
  Context Archers Published later

  28 Chinese recurve archers at three levels: the length of the aim is 2.2 ± 1.3, 2.4 ± 1.7 and 2.3 ± 1.6 seconds in the three groups, with no significant difference. In the same study the duration of the draw is reported as differing between levels (2.1, 2.2 and 2.5 seconds, p<0.01), but that value is obtained by counting each archer's twelve shots as twelve archers: across the twenty-eight participants p sits at about 0.36. It does not look at the score of each arrow, and the journal is a regional one.

  A Comparative Study on the Joint Coordination of Archery Athletes of Different Skill Levels: Based on Functional Data Analysis Questionable venue · Baifa Zhang, Zhi-Cheng Lin

• 2025
  Against Archers Published later

  8 high-level French recurve archers, 549 arrows at 70 m: within the group the length of the aim does not separate good arrows from bad, and in the individual archers it works in opposite directions. Archer A8 aims longer on tens (3.7 seconds) than on arrows scoring eight or less (2.0 seconds; p = 0.007), archer A1 aims longer on arrows scoring eight or less (2.2) than on nines (1.6; p = 0.023).

  A multi-parameter investigation of elite archery: distinguishing individual and shared performance strategies during the aiming and follow-through phases · Raphaël Jacquot, Khaireddine Ben Mansour, Kévin Bouillet, Jean-Philippe Jehl, Gérôme Gauchard

• 2026
  For Archers Published later

  A doctoral thesis, comparison between levels across 15 recurve archers: the elite aim for 2.62 ± 1.85 seconds against 3.36 ± 2.26 for the intermediates (p < 0.001). Those who shoot better aim for less time, but this is a comparison between different archers, not between arrows from the same archer.

  Analyse multidimensionnelle de la performance en tir à l'arc · Raphaël Jacquot

• 2026
  Against Archers Published later

  The same thesis, the within-archer part: across the 8 elite archers the direction of the link between aiming time and arrow score changes from person to person, appears in two cases out of eight and in opposite directions, and does not appear in the other six. These are the same 549 shots as the 2025 paper and count once.

  Analyse multidimensionnelle de la performance en tir à l'arc · Raphaël Jacquot

• 2026
  Context Review Published later

  A focused systematic review of five studies, in a journal with doubtful editorial standards: it reports the 2023 Malaysian work as showing that in young archers with higher scores, at least 285 out of 360, the aiming phase is longer and the follow-through shorter, with similar postural stability between groups. It is the same study already counted here, taken second-hand.

  Impact of Kinematic Variables of the Draw Force Line on Performance in Recurve Archery: A Focused Systematic Literature Review Questionable venue · Namchan Norbu Bhutia, Atanu Ghosh, Snehunsu Adhikari, Awesh Khati

• 2026
  Context Archers Published later

  A nine-month randomised trial on 67 precision-sport athletes in Singapore, with archers and target shooters analysed together: mean aiming time over sixty shots is 7.39 ± 3.67 seconds in the active group and 7.75 ± 5.04 in the placebo group at baseline, and does not change at nine months (interaction p = 0.723). The standard deviations show how much the person matters more than the condition.

  The effect of macular carotenoids and omega-3 supplementation on performance in precision sports: the sport nutrition intervention in performance exercise (SNIPE) study · Parimala Sivaperuman, Fraser C. Horn, Warren Roche, James Stringham, Richard Swinbourne, John Nolan

Status history

1. 1971 Contradicted The first available figure points the other way: in three kyudo archers the hold lasts about five seconds in the expert against two in the beginner, so the one who shoots better stays on aim longer. Three people and no statistics, but it is the only evidence of the time and it goes against the claim: with a single datum, and a kyudo one at that, the status is contradicted.
2. 1990 Contradicted Two studies from the same year say there is no simple link. In four elite archers followed over two sessions the relation between aiming time and arrow quality reverses from one archer to the next: in two performances the time grows on the poorer arrows and in three it shrinks. In seven elite archers at seventy and ninety metres there is no relation between muscle activity, aiming time, draw time and accuracy. Nothing in favour of the claim and tiny samples: it stays contradicted.
3. 1994 Contested The first figure in favour arrives on twelve Italian archers of intermediate and high level: mean aiming time correlates with FITA score at r = -0.72, so those who aim longer score less. From here the studies on archers point in opposite directions, which is exactly the definition: contested.
4. 2005 Contested A review chapter reports a study of ten archers from the Italian women's national squad in which the score was best in the condition they chose themselves and worst when the release was delayed by five seconds. It is the closest thing to an experiment on this question, but it comes second-hand and with no figures in the chapter, so the status does not move.
5. 2009 Contested The two individual winners of the 2007 World Championships, timed phase by phase through all their matches, aimed in opposite ways: she for about a second, he for three or four, with their opponents in between. There is no winners' aiming time, so the question stays open and the status does not change.
6. 2010 Contested The first measurement inside the technical sequence, on four elite women archers and 108 arrows, separates two things that practice runs together: the time spent on the target is identical on arrows scoring eight, nine and ten, while the draw as a whole is shorter on the better arrows, from 5.6 to 4.8 seconds. The only signal in favour concerns the total time, not the aim, and this distinction explains much of the disagreement that follows.
7. 2011 Contested In competition the picture turns over: in seventeen adolescent archers a longer time per shot goes with higher scores, and the experienced ones spend eight seconds more on each arrow than the novices. That time, though, covers the whole sequence, from taking the arrow out of the quiver to the release, not the aim. On the other side the second publication of the elite sample repeats that aiming time does not separate the arrows, with the 2010 figures.
8. 2014 Contested An observation on elite compound archers in head-to-head matches in strong wind: those who reached the final stages let the release go as soon as the sight reached the centre, instead of squeezing the trigger slowly while trying to hold the aim. It is the authors' description, with no figures, and the status stays as it was.
9. 2015 Contested The first experiment with figures arrives, in a British master's dissertation: eight elite archers shoot at seventy metres with their usual aiming time, then at double and at triple it, and the mean score per arrow falls from 8.60 to 7.75, while shoulders, elbows and wrists move faster. After correction for multiple comparisons only triple counts, not double, and the conditions always come in the same order, so fatigue stays mixed up with duration. It is extra support for the claim, but the contrary studies are still there: contested.
10. 2016 Contested Two measurements in the same year, one each way. In two university archers the aiming time was shorter and less variable on the high-scoring arrows, 2.9 seconds against 4.2. In fifteen archers of mixed level over four hundred and fifty shots at eighteen metres, aiming longer went instead with arrows slightly closer to the centre, with a small effect. Fully contested, with both directions inside the same year.
11. 2019 Contested Ten compound women archers measured outside menstruation show the association in favour of the claim, with a longer time from draw to release linked to lower scores (r = -0.69), and no association during menstruation. The status stays contested, with the caveat that this is a tiny sample in a journal with doubtful editorial standards.
12. 2020 Contested Eight national-level archers confirm the supporting side, with the worst arrow preceded by an aim of 3.55 seconds against 2.07 for the best. The context, though, takes the simple reading apart: in six Austrian archers the tens have the shortest median duration but the worst shots are not the longest, and in one archer the shots with the shortest aim showed more bow shake. The status stays contested.
13. 2021 Contested Two papers say how long the aim actually lasts, which is what the question assumes: across hundreds of shots by university archers the shortest aiming period of all stays above a second and a half, and in thirty-one Thai archers with international experience the time from settling on aim to release averages four point six seconds. They do not move the status, but they close the door on the idea that a short aim is a matter of tenths of a second.
14. 2022 Contested A systematic review lines up five studies, nearly all on two to eight archers, and concludes that the link between aiming time and score is unclear. It is a photograph of the disagreement, not its resolution, and it also says why: the samples are too small to decide.
15. 2023 Contested The firmest figure so far comes from sixteen young Malaysian recurve archers measured over five hundred and seventy-six arrows at seventy metres, and it goes against the claim twice: the better eight aim longer than the weaker eight, three point four seconds against two point seven, and arrow by arrow the length of the aim is not related to the score. The status stays contested because the contrary side now has the better sample, while the supporting studies have not been repeated.
16. 2024 Contested A comparison across three levels on twenty-eight Chinese archers adds that the length of the aim, around two and a half seconds, does not distinguish archers of different levels. It is context, because it does not look at the score of each arrow, and the status does not change.
17. 2025 Contested In eight elite recurve archers the length of the aim does not separate good arrows from bad within the group, and in the individual archers it works in opposite directions: one shot better holding longer, another holding less. The status stays contested, and this result explains why the data never agree, because the group average adds up two contrary behaviours and cancels them out.
18. 2026 Contested The doctoral thesis containing the 2025 French study adds the comparison between levels: French elite archers aim for less time than intermediates, 2.62 against 3.36 seconds, but inside the elite group the direction of the link changes from archer to archer, in two cases out of eight and in opposite directions. A review in a journal with doubtful editorial standards instead reports young archers with higher scores and longer aims. And across precision sports taken together, mean aiming time sits around seven to eight seconds with an enormous spread from person to person, which is precisely the problem with this question.

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Research lines

• 48 studiesBow stability and aiming time: research since 1971
• 54 studiesMovement variability and individual technique since 1971

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedBetween one and a half and two tenths of a second pass between the clicker sounding and the arrow leaving7 studies · 94 archers measuredStatus since 1990
• 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

See all claims on technique and biomechanics