The five best archers of the first Indoor Archery World Series

The first Indoor Archery World Series finished with the circuit finals in Las Vegas on 9 February. The tour started in Strassen, Luxembourg in late 2018, then visited Macao, Rome and Nimes – before the first two days of The Vegas Shoot acted as the last stage.

Archers qualified to shoot in the Indoor Archery World Series Finals by accruing elite ranking points at a minimum of three of the five stages.

The top 16 in each of the four competition categories were placed in a head-to-head bracket, with Sim Yeji, Steve Wijler, Kris Schaff and Viktoria Balzhanova emerging victorious to take the first Indoor Archery World Series Champion titles in Vegas. 

Throughout the whole indoor season, these five archers impressed the most.

1. SIM YEJI

Sim only dropped one arrow out of the 10-ring during the recurve women’s gold medal match at the Indoor Archery World Series Finals. She didn’t drop a single arrow out of the 10-ring during her bronze medal match at the Nimes Archery Tournament. Both were world-class performances in front of big crowds.

2. CASEY KAUFHOLD

At just 14 years old, Kaufhold hung with some extremely talented seniors on the world stage. She won the GT Open in Luxembourg and finished second in Nimes.

Casey’s only head-to-head losses during the indoor season came against Kang Chae Young, Kang Chae Young, Kang Chae Young and Kim Chaeyun.

Kang Chae Young is the outdoor world record holder.

3. KRIS SCHAFF

Both Schaff and US teammate Braden Gellenthien had strong indoor seasons. Gellenthien won in Rome and beat Schaff in the final in Nimes – but it was Schaff who took the circuit title, becoming Hyundai Archery World Cup and Indoor Archery World Series Champion at the same time.

4. STEVE WIJLER

The Dutch world number two has an incredible ability to raise his game when it’s needed. That was on full display when he dragged his Indoor Archery World Series Finals gold medal match against Brady Ellison back from the brink to seal victory in a tiebreak.

5. FAITH MILLER

Although she didn’t shoot in the senior category, Miller did shoot in junior events held at the Nimes Archery Tournament, Roma Archery Trophy and the Vegas Shoot.

She won all three, breaking the compound junior world record in the process and putting it at 594, just a single point off the senior mark.

The first Indoor Archery World Series took place across five events in Strassen, Macao, Rome, Nimes and Las Vegas in 2018 and 2019.