Shanghai World Cup Stage 2 Begins | Archery Weekly Apr 28-May 4, 2026

It is a stacked week on the shooting line. Stage two of the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup lights up Shanghai with all four world number ones in the field, Malaysia’s barebow men just dropped 18 points off a four-year-old world record, the European Para Archery Championships in Rome wrapped with breakthroughs and dynasties on display, and Colombia’s Sara Lopez is making her LA28 intentions impossible to ignore. Stateside, USA Archery has confirmed dates for its Salt Lake Summit, and spring turkey hunters are racing the clock as season closures roll across the country. Here is everything that mattered between April 28 and May 4, 2026.

Shanghai 2026: All Four World #1s Headline Stage Two of the Hyundai World Cup

The biggest story going into the week is the one that has not happened yet. Shanghai hosts a stage of the annual Hyundai Archery World Cup circuit for the 16th time, with action at the Yuanshen Sports Centre running May 5–10 and the medal finals broadcast live from Pudong’s Riverside Financial Plaza on May 9 and 10. According to World Archery, 320 athletes from 44 countries are in town — 48 more entries than last year, driven by Asian nations sharpening squads ahead of the 2026 Asian Games.

The leaderboard at the top of every category will look familiar. All four reigning world number ones — Brady Ellison (recurve men), Kang Chaeyoung (recurve women), Mike Schloesser (compound men), and Andrea Becerra (compound women) — are entered. The defending champions from 2025, Brady Ellison and Türkiye’s Emircan Haney, will be the only two athletes back to defend titles in their bow style, raising the stakes for everyone else hunting a stage win and the automatic ticket to the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Saltillo, Mexico.

If you are mostly a compound shooter, this stage is required viewing. Mike Schloesser’s mixed-team form with Sanne de Laat earned a podium nod at Puebla, and Becerra has been razor-sharp at distance all season. Use the broadcasts as a tuning lab — pay attention to how the elite shooters are setting up. If you are still locking in your own rig, our complete compound bow guide for 2026 walks through the choices these athletes are quietly making between every end.

Malaysia Sets Barebow Men’s Team World Record at Shah Alam

The barebow scene almost never makes mainstream archery headlines, which is exactly why this one matters. The Malaysian trio of Khairul Anuar Mohamad, Norhisyam Ismail, and Mohd Zaidi Bin Hashim combined for 1864 points across the 216-arrow 50-metre team round at the Shah Alam National Sports Complex during the Malaysia 2026 Barebow Asia Championship. The number adds 18 points to the previous mark, set in 2022, and resets the global benchmark for the discipline.

For the curious, that average works out to a hair under 8.63 points per arrow over 216 shots — without a sight, without a clicker, and without stabilizers under most barebow rule sets. Anyone who has tried barebow at 50 metres knows how punishing wind, light, and string-walking inconsistencies become at distance. Three shooters maintaining that quality across an entire team round is technical mastery, not just a hot day.

The result also signals where the energy is in the discipline. Malaysia hosting a Barebow Asia Championship at all, alongside continued growth in barebow categories at Archery GB and World Archery field events, points to a movement that is no longer fringe. If you have been curious about going sightless, this is a great moment to read up — our barebow vs recurve breakdown covers the seven biggest differences before you change your setup.

Roma 2026 Wraps: W1 Breakthroughs and a Fifth Title for Mijno

The European Para Archery Championships closed in Rome on May 2 after a week of qualification and head-to-heads at venues including the Nando Martellini athletics stadium beside the Colosseum. According to World Archery, 129 competitors from 26 nations contested para recurve, para compound, W1, and visually impaired (VI) categories — the first major VI competition since the Gwangju 2025 Para Worlds.

The fairy-tale story belonged to Spain’s Isabel Fernandez Jimenez. She picked up a bow for the first time in late 2023, won gold on her international debut at the Para Archery European Cup in Rome in May 2025, set a W1 women’s 60-arrow indoor world record (567 points) at the Spanish national championships in February, and now adds a maiden W1 European Championship title to that trajectory. From karate mats to the international podium in roughly 30 months is the kind of arc that reframes what is possible for archers coming into the sport mid-career.

On the dynastic side, Italy’s Elisabetta Mijno — still world number one in para recurve women — added another European title to a collection that already includes four. The home crowd factor was real, and so was the gear: Italian recurve archers continue to build with stiff carbon limbs and tight clicker setups that you can study in any decent broadcast still. If you want to dig into spine and shaft selection like an elite recurve archer, our arrow spine, material, and fletching selection framework is the next read.

Sara Lopez’s “Unfinished Business” — Compound’s GOAT Eyes LA28

Compound’s Olympic debut at LA28 is going to rewrite the sport’s hierarchy, and Colombia’s Sara Lopez wants a piece of it. The Colombian — widely regarded as the GOAT of compound and a former co-holder of the men’s-equivalent perfect 150 — has spoken openly this week about her comeback being driven by what she calls “unfinished business.” After a stretch of inconsistency, her form has stabilized: better control, calmer focus, and a clearly defined three-year arc that lands in Los Angeles.

The context matters. Compound bow contests its first Olympic medals in 2028 — the first new bow style added to the Games programme since archery returned in 1972, with champions crowned on Day 7 of LA28. For Lopez, the storyline lines up almost too neatly. She has won everything compound has to offer outside the Olympic ring; LA28 is the missing trophy. For the rest of the field, that means three seasons of pressure with Lopez squarely in the conversation again at every stage.

Watch how she tunes through Shanghai. Lopez’s shot process and release setup are textbook study material for any compound shooter — particularly her hinge-based release execution and back tension. New to releases? Our compound bow release aid guide covers the five main types and how to pick the one that fits your style before you dive into Lopez-style hinge work.

USA Archery Confirms Salt Lake Summit Dates: May 21–31

USA Archery’s calendar for May is set. Senior, para, and 50+ archers compete May 22–24, followed by youth and para youth divisions May 29–31, all at the Easton Salt Lake Archery Center. According to USA Archery, the Summit doubles as a USAT #2 event, awarding ranking points that feed the USAT Series Final and its $50,000 prize pool.

There is also a wrinkle worth flagging. Mixed Team Rounds are open to all archers — including shooters not registered for the main event — on Thursday May 21 and Thursday May 28. That is unusually accessible for a USAT-level competition, and it is a clean entry point for archers who want a competitive scoreline without committing to the full three-day grind. If you are local to Utah or willing to travel, that is one of the friendlier on-ramps to national-level competition all year.

For shooters preparing to score under USAT pressure, target panic is the single biggest performance killer at this level. If you have felt the cycle starting — punching the trigger, freezing off the X, fighting the float — work through our 7-step target panic fix before Salt Lake. It is not a quick fix, but the steps are the same ones the top USAT shooters quietly run through every off-season.

Spring Turkey Bowhunting: The Last-Two-Weeks Window

If you bowhunt turkeys, the runway is short. May closing dates are stacking up across most eastern and Midwestern states this month, and the late-season pressure pattern is in full effect: birds that survived April have heard every yelp, dodged every decoy, and gotten quiet. According to the National Wild Turkey Federation, the next two weeks are when patience and movement discipline pay off more than aggressive calling.

Three things to focus on right now. First, scale back calling. Soft yelps and clucks at long intervals are doing more work than long, loud sequences once gobblers have wised up. Second, hunt mid-day. Late-morning and early-afternoon kills go way up in May because hens have left toms to nest, and a lonely gobbler will travel. Third, get your bow inside 25 yards before pressuring a setup — a turkey at full strut watching a treeline does not miss movement, and a wide-open shot at 35 yards through layered foliage is a recipe for a wounded bird.

Gear-wise, this is also when broadhead flight matters most because shots are often through filtered cover. If you have not paper-tuned and bareshaft-checked your hunting setup since archery season, do it before your next sit. Our broadhead tuning guide walks through seven fixes that get fixed-blade and mechanical heads flying with field points before opening day.

World Cup Highlights From Stage One

If you want a primer on the level Shanghai is about to hit, World Archery’s official compound highlights from Puebla 2026 are the cleanest reference. Watch the elite-bracket release execution, the back-half follow-through, and the speed of the rebound between ends. That is the rhythm a stage two podium archer is going to maintain across a 5–10 day event.

Looking Ahead

The week ahead is dominated by Shanghai. Qualification on May 5, eliminations through the week, and individual and mixed team finals on May 9–10 from Pudong’s Riverside Financial Plaza. Brady Ellison defending, Schloesser and Becerra hunting compound silverware, and the Korean recurve squad — newly under Italian head coach Sergio Pagni’s compound program from last week’s news — providing the storyline depth.

After Shanghai, attention pivots to Salt Lake on May 21 for the Mixed Team Round opener and the Senior/Para/50+ block May 22–24. Watch the USAT points race tighten as ranking implications snap into focus ahead of the series final. On the hunting side, most state turkey seasons close between May 15 and May 31, and broadhead inventory at retailers is starting to thin — restock now if you plan to chase late birds.

Further out, the Asian Games in September continue to shape every decision Korea, Japan, China, and Chinese Taipei make at Shanghai. Roster confirmations should drop in the next few weeks. We will keep tracking the build-up — see you next Monday.