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

This study investigated the characteristics of the world's top archery athletes, focusing on the amount of time spent on every phase of shooting. Case studies were conducted on the Recurve men's individual gold medalist and the Recurve women's individual gold medalist; the mean time and the coefficient of variation of the mean for each phase of their shooting were calculated and compared with those of all their opponents from the 1/64 Elimination Round to the Finals. Additionally, the mean time for each phase of shooting was calculated for every match, and then these values were compared with one other. It was found that the aiming time—the time spent aiming at the target's center before shooting—of both the male and female individual gold medalists was distinctly different from those of their opponents. The male gold medalist's coefficient of variation of the mean aiming time was smaller than those of his opponents in all matches from the 1/64 Elimination Round to the Finals, except in the 1/16 Elimination Round. The aiming time of the female gold medalist was shorter than those of her opponents in all matches from the 1/64 Elimination Round to the Finals. Both medalists' aiming times remained constant throughout all of their matches. The above results suggest that the aiming time of the male and female individual archery gold medalists is a distinct characteristic of their shooting technique.