Korea broke the compound men’s team match world record at Shanghai 2025 on Wednesday morning, during the second stage of the 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup.
In their first-round matchup against Macao China, Kim Jongho, Choi Eun Gyu and Choi Yonghee hit the 10-ring with 100 percent accuracy – 24 10s out of 24 arrows – becoming the first team in history to complete a perfect match.
“It’s not something we were expecting but were fortunate to shoot a perfect score, and we were surprised,” said Yonghee. “To be honest, with one end left to go, we even doubted whether we’d be able to shoot a perfect score. But we really did everything we could.”
“Maybe we didn’t feel as much pressure in that first match against Macao. I don’t know if this is okay to say, but in the first round you end up shooting against a team with a pretty big difference in ranking, so maybe we had a bit less pressure on us.”
“We were probably a bit less nervous, and if we just focused on ourselves, [we knew] we’d be able to win the match. Maybe that’s what helped us.”
The record was previously held by the USA’s Jesse Broadwater, Braden Gellenthien and compound legend Reo Dee Wilde, who shot just one shy at 239 during the Turin 2011 World Archery Championships.
The USA went on to win in Italy, but Korea were unable to follow up this astonishing achievement in China. They were defeated by Mexico, 237-232, in the semifinals, and then lost to Denmark in the bronze medal match.
They may not be going to Saturday’s final, but the Koreans can go to bed tonight knowing they’ve earned a place in the history books – likely for a very long time.
Korea is the most successful recurve nation of all time, but it turns out their compounders aren’t too shabby either.
