The 56th edition of the World famous, The Vegas Shoot, returned in-person for 2022 thanks to World Archery and NFAA!
The Vegas Shoot 2022, hosted by NFAA and World Archery, was an incredible success for British archers. Especially for 16-year-old Penny Healey! The event took place 4-6 February at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa, in Las Vegas.
The Vegas Shoot is part of the World Archery Indoor World Series. The shoot had over 3000 registered archers this year from all across the World. Incorporated in this event was the Indoor World Series 2022.
The shoot itself is a three-day event, with 30 arrows shot each day, with many divisions. There is a Flights division for compound, recurve and barebow and the Championship division for compound and recurve. Along with youth, cub and young adult divisions.
The Vegas Shoot is shot on either a three-spot target face with gold-red-blue (10, 9, 8, 7, 6) scoring areas or a full 40cm target face. It is up to each archer which side of the paper they want to use. (The faces are double-sided). Full rules can be found here.
On the first two days, each archer is assigned a target with three other archers in the same division. As per normal competitions, each archer is assigned a detail (A,B,C or D). Unlike UK competitions, archers are responsible for hanging their own target face on the target.
As a result of each archer hanging their own targets, technically everyone can put your target faces in any order on the target. This is of course at the discretion of the target companions.
Once 15 arrows have been shot, the archers on the bottom target face swap to shoot on the top face, and vice versa for the top face archers. Bottom targets always shoot first as well. So rather than alternating, C,D target faces will shoot first each end.
This helps with the lighting and ensures bottom targets aren't hindered.
During the third day, Sunday, archers are grouped into fours from their rankings. The Flights division has around 30 people per flight and the Championship divisions are done on straight ranking from the first two days.
To sum up day three, payouts happen! For more information on that, see here.
Full results from all divisions can be found here.
On Sunday evening, there is the big finale for the Championship divisions. The majority of Championship Divisions have shoot-offs. These are live streamed and make quite the spectacle. To watch the finals, see here.
There is only a shoot-off in the division if there is a tie for first, second, or third place. If there is a winner, they are crowned the Vegas Champion.
Although there were just two events the Indoor World Series 2022, there was a lot more excitment. The events were the Nîmes Archery Tournament and the first two days (60 arrows) of The Vegas Shoot.
In order to qualify for the Finals, archers had to shoot in the Championship divisions in their discipline. The top 16 archers in each category (men and women compound and recurve) shot for the titles on the Saturday night of the event.
To watch the Indoor World Series finals, watch here.
Penny had a lot of success at her first Vegas Shoot. Coming away with the Indoor World Series Champion title and third place in the Championship Recurve Women division.
She spoke to World Archery and explained, "I'm so excited and happy, I never thought this would happen" after winning the Indoor World Series.
She went on, Â"I was so nervous [in the final] that I didn't think I would get any points at all. This was my first gold medal match as a senior and it means so much. I don't know how to explain it, I'm lost for words.”
