Olympic Champ misses indoor world record by 1mm

Olympic Champion Ku Bonchan shot 598 out of 600 points for the 18-metre ranking round, matching Brady Ellison’s new world record from the first stage of the 2016/17 Indoor Archery World Cup in Marrakesh, and missed setting a world-leading score by a millimetre in the final end.

“It’s my first indoor tournament,” said Ku. “I didn’t expect to break the world record. I remembered that Brady shot 598 last week and I was thinking about it. I tried my best.”

Ku had shot 299 out of 300 for the first 30 arrows then hadn’t dropped another point heading into the final end of the round.

His first shot was low and left in the gold on the top face, but he – and most of the onlookers – thought it had clipped the 10. His last two arrows were unquestionable.

At the target, it was clear.

The top shaft was one millimetre out of the 10-ring, and Ellison’s 598 – which had broken a 15-year-old mark – would stand for at least another tournament.

Double Olympic gold medallist Ku, three-time Olympic Champion Ki Bo Bae (twice team, once individual) and Rio 2016 team winner Choi Misun, along with compound world number one Sara Lopez, as part of a group of top internationals, and local European archers were competing in the first tournament to take place in the new World Archery Excellence Centre.

The facility, based in the Olympic Capital of Lausanne, Switzerland, was officially opened by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach and World Archery President Prof Dr Ugur Erdener on Friday 2 December 2016.