Archery Preview
A year out from the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, scheduled to take place in 2021, USA Archery has secured one men’s quota spot for the Games with Brady Ellison winning the gold medal at the world championships, and one women’s quota spot when Ellison and Casey Kaufhold won the mixed team event at Lima 2019. Having won silver at the last two Games, it is surprising that the U.S. has not yet locked up the full team quota – in fact, it is the first time since 1976, and the next chance to qualify a full men’s and women’s team will be just a month before the Games.
Ellison, the world No. 1, world champion and world record holder, had the greatest year of his career in 2019. Finally injury-free after many seasons of differing injuries, Ellison podiumed at every world cup event, including winning two stages and becoming the first man in history to win five world cup final champion titles. He additionally won the first U.S. recurve men’s world champion title since 1985, ending a 34-year drought. Ellison has won team silver at the last two Games in London and Rio, and the individual bronze in Rio. To start 2020, Ellison shot the first ever perfect 900-round score with the Olympic recurve, which he called his greatest accomplishment in archery. This is finally his time and he is hungry and ready for the gold in Tokyo.
Other frontrunners include teenage sensation Jack Williams, who won team gold at the 2018 World Archery Youth Championships and finished in the top eight at the 2019 world championships, and Thomas Stanwood – a 40-year-old lawyer, drummer, father of twin baby boys and talented archer.
On the women’s side, Rio 2016 Olympian Mackenzie Brown is still strong in the mix. Despite missing the world team this year, Brown is still ranked No. 1 in the U.S. and holds the highest world ranking of any U.S. recurve woman. Five-time Olympian Khatuna Lorig is gearing up for a comeback and 15-year-old Casey Kaufhold is the young phenomenon taking the world by storm with multiple international podium finishes this season.
Updated on July 20, 2020. For more information, contact the sport press officer here.