World Archery 2026 Rule Changes: World Cup Minimum Scores and More

World Archery's updated rulebooks took effect on 27 January 2026, and the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup season, the circuit's 20th, introduced the biggest change to entry rules in its history. Here is what changed and why it matters to competitive archers.

Minimum qualifying standard for World Cup stages

From 2026, an archer must have recorded a score above a minimum standard at a World Archery world ranking event or a registered national championships to enter a World Cup stage. The thresholds, over a 72-arrow qualifying round, are:

World Archery announced the standard in February 2025 to give federations a full season's notice. It followed a 2025 change under which only the top 64 qualifiers in each category advance to matchplay at a stage, with no byes and no early elimination round.

Terminology: Long and Short Distances

Across all rulebooks, the terms "outdoor" and "indoor" have been replaced with Long Distances and Short Distances. The intent is to describe the format by distance rather than by venue, since 18-metre competition can be shot outdoors and 70-metre events can, in principle, be staged under cover.

Other changes judges are applying in 2026

• The minimum shooting space per athlete at short distances (18 m and 25 m) is reduced from 80 cm to 70 cm.
• Smoking rules now explicitly include vaping and electronic cigarettes, which are not permitted on the field of play.
• Risers that include a brace are permitted, provided the brace does not consistently touch the archer's hand or wrist.
• All arrows must be marked with the athlete's name or initials on the shaft or arrow wrap.
• Para archery classification rules (Book 5.1) were also reissued in the 27 January 2026 version.

Tested but not adopted

At the Antalya stage of the 2025 World Cup, World Archery trialled two more radical ideas: scoring the inner X ring as 11 points, and reducing the qualification round from 72 to 60 arrows. Neither appears in the 2026 rulebook as a standard for World Cup competition.

What it means in practice

For most club archers nothing changes day to day, although national federations will adopt the terminology over time. For aspiring international archers, the minimum standard formalises what was already true in practice: a recurve man needs to be shooting around 640 and a compound man around 674 before a World Cup entry is realistic. Read our guide to measuring draw length if you are at the start of that journey rather than the end of it.