The Set System—a new era in World Archery competition
Lausanne – 14 June 2010
In 2009, FITA Congress passed the proposal for changing from the elimination round of 12 arrows to a new system based on sets and matches. There were several reasons for this.
The main reason was that in the strategic World Archery Plan for 2007-2012, one focus was on “Events”. Among several aspects of this that were identified, FITA wanted to address the fact that, on a 12-arrow Olympic Round match, there were sometimes matches that would be essentially lost after one end due to a bad (perhaps, unlucky) shot. The archer who shot the bad arrow would fall too far behind his opponent in the scoring. When there is a 10 or more point gap between shooters, audiences quickly lose interest.
Another possible motivation for this was that, in several high profile events, such as the 2005 World Championships, the No. 1 men’s recurve archer was defeated by the No. 64 archer, because of one bad shot. Many observers did not feel that these situations were fair to the top qualifiers. The new format is felt to be fairer to the more consistently good shooter.
What is the new format?
All matches until the quarterfinals consist of a maximum of three sets of six arrows per set.
Ø The winner of each set, the athlete who gets the highest cumulative score with his six arrows, gets two set points. If the set is tied each athlete gets one set point.
Ø The winner of the match is determined by the number of set points won, rather than the value of the arrows.
Ø The match winner is the first to reach four set points.
Ø The match is over once the four set points are reached within the three sets.
Ø If the match is tied, a one-arrow (only!) shoot-off will be used to break the tie. If the arrows score the same, the archer whose arrow is closest to the centre will get one extra point and wins.
Ø The athletes shoot their arrows simultaneously and have four minutes to shoot six arrows.
Finals
For quarterfinals through medal matches, the match changes to a maximum five sets of three arrows per set.
Ø The match winner this time is the first to achieve six points.
Ø If the match is tied, again, a one-arrow shoot-off will be used to break the tie. In the tie-break, the archer whose arrow is closest to the centre gets the win.
Ø For quarterfinals and semifinals, the athletes shoot their arrows simultaneously and have two minutes to shoot three arrows.
Ø For medal matches, the athletes will alternate each arrow and will have 20 seconds per arrow. In alternate shooting, the athlete trailing in the match shoots first (based on set points, not arrow score). In case of a tie, the original shooting order is maintained.
It is noteworthy that all the individual matches at the Olympic Games in London 2012 will be conducted using the finals format.
By breaking down the match with sets of three or six arrows, this format still gives a chance to the better archer who experiences one bad or unlucky shot to beat his opponent with consistency—or even survive an equipment failure. It also turns out that often, more matches are contested until the last arrow. That certainly brings more excitement to the competition, as we have already seen in the first events of the season with the new system.
With many of the top archers in the world now having competed at the first of the major events featuring the new World Archery set system, such as the first stage of the 2010 Archery World Cup, and the 2010 European Outdoor Championships, there have been some additional revelations about the new set system and the mindset needed to succeed with the new round at the highest levels.
A high pressure game
In one sense, the set system takes some pressure off the archers because you can have a bad arrow and stay in the game. However, you still need to win the three or six-arrow set when it matters. This requires a different mindset from the older elimination round, where an archer could get ahead in score and then feel less pressure toward the end.
With the set system, since every end is important, there is a higher stress level for every end of three or six arrows. Also there is even more of a requirement for total concentration through the entire match.
One other aspect of the set system that comes into play is the possibility that the total raw score of the winning archer might not be as high as the total raw score of the loser. This makes the focus on each and every set even more important than in the past.
Single arrow focus and winning coach techniques
In the World Cup Stage 1, FITA TV had each archer’s coach wired with a microphone to catch the interchange between coach and archer. In almost every case of a winning shooter, it was interesting to note that the coach served in a very active role, constantly talking to the shooter and working to keep their focus throughout the matches. In nearly every case the coach actively worked on getting the shooter to shoot each and every shot quickly and smoothly.
With the new, 20-second timing per arrow in the set system, it was more critical than ever to be mentally prepared to shoot a good shot right from the start of the shot sequence. While this is always important, it was very clear that in cases where archers had to let down there was almost no time left to restart a well-composed shot. Every shooter who let down, actually lost their set. This made the importance of a confident pre-shot mental preparation very evident.
Conclusion
While it is still early in the season it appears that the new set system has already been very successful in terms of maintaining audience interest and also, finding the most consistent shooter who can perform under pressure. The pressure level of the new format is definitely increased and the most successful shooters have been those who have learned to respond to and overcome this pressure.
So far, taking the approach of shooting one decisive shot at a time (almost shooting as if each arrow is a shoot-off arrow) seems to be producing the most wins. As the season progresses and more information is developed we will bring it to you. And, you can see the top shooters competing in the set system all season at www.archery.tv, on the internet.
In the near future, we will also need to analyse the new Compound Round based on the World Cup events in Antalya and Ogden.
George TEKMITCHOV
World Archery Commentator
