Hoyt Stratos -- The Global Standard

World Records in archery stand out as the absolute pinnacle of capability in our sport. To accomplish one of these World Records puts a shooter at the top echelon of the sport of archery, and also shows the capability of the equipment of the day.

World Records, and the most prominent World Records, change as shooters evolve and continue to raise the talent level, as equipment and manufacturing improves, and as the sport shifts to different formats.

Looking specifically at Compound Target Archery, the World Records that hold the most weight currently are the Men’s and Women’s Indoor 18m and Outdoor 50m records. These are the games that are currently being contested across the globe for World Archery Championship and World Cup competition and are the most commonly contested rounds amongst all different formats of target archery. 20 years ago we would point to the compound 1440 round that was contested at distances of 90, 70, 50 and 30 meters. That format is still amongst the Holy Grail of archery records, but it is not the flavor du jour. Today, the indoor world record of 60 arrows shot at 18 meters, and the outdoor world record of 72 arrows shot at 50 meters are the barometers of archery capabilities.

When World Records are contested, the first archer to achieve the score holds the record. As an example, Mike Schloesser was the first to shoot a perfect 600/600 indoor 18m score in Men’s Compound, and his name will forever hold that record. It has since been tied by at least four others, but Mike holds that record and always will. In outdoors, perfect scores have not yet been achieved. In actuality, the perfect outdoor score is a 720 with 72x’s. World Archery Records do not recognize X counts as a tie-breaker unless a perfect score of 720 has been achieved. This is important to note, and the reason will be explained further into this blog. Additionally, the age 21+ record is the most noteworthy of all, as any records shot by U21 or age 50+ categories also count towards the overall World Record, as well as the record of the respective age categories. It’s a little complicated, but in the end it all rolls up into one World Record of the most significance.

Let’s take a deeper look at the current World Records that hold the most prominence, starting with the ladies:

Women’s Indoor World Record – Hazal Burun, Turkiye

The most recent world record to fall is the Women’s Compound 18m World Record. This record was set by Hazal Burun with a 598/600 in January of 2024. Hazal is a Turkish archer who is under 21, so her record counts for the overall world record as well as the U21 world record. Hazal shot this World Record with a Hoyt Stratos 36 SVX. The women’s game has shifted massively recently. A 590/600 used to be significant, now it’s very normal to see multiple ladies eclipsing that mark and pushing above 595.

Women’s Outdoor World Record – Ella Gibson, GBR

The Women’s Outdoor 50-meter World Record was also broken fairly recently, with Ella Gibson from Great Britain shooting a 715/720 at the 2023 European Games in Poland. The bow of choice – Hoyt Stratos 40 SVX. This is a record that was at 704 a decade ago. Team Hoyt’s Sara Lopez changed the game, raising the World Record three times in 2015 alone, and pushing the entire world of women’s compound archery to a new level.

Men’s Indoor World Record – Mike Schloesser, Netherlands

This was the World Record that changed the game of indoor archery as we know it. Set in 2015 at the Nimes Indoor Archery World Cup, one of the biggest events in archery, by a young Mike Schloesser. With a perfect score of 600 points, Mike broke through with a performance that would garner him the nickname of “Mister Perfect,” a nickname that will stick with him until he retires from the sport. While four (maybe?) others have matched the score one time, Mike has gone on to repeat the performance countless times. He has cemented himself as one of the all-time greats, and certainly has earned the nickname Mister Perfect. He set the initial record in 2015 with a Hoyt Podium X. Mike recently set an unofficial record of sorts with his Hoyt Stratos 40 SVX, shooting a perfect 600 and then following it up with another four perfect match scores to total 120 perfect arrows in a row at the 2023 Indoor World Series Taipei Open

Men’s Outdoor World Record – Braden Gellenthien, USA

Unlike Indoor Archery, outdoor archery comes with a battle against the elements. To break a World Record outdoors will require near-perfect weather conditions to align with a day where the archer and their equipment are both in perfect harmony. The World Archery Men’s Compound Outdoor 50m mark is a 718/720 with 31 X’s shot by Braden Gellenthien shot in 2016 at the USA Outdoor Nationals. I was lucky enough to be standing next to Braden when he shot that record, and it was one of the most impressive performances I have ever seen.

Interestingly enough, this score was tied by Mike Schloesser (yes, that guy again) with a 718 at the European Games in 2023, the same event where the women’s record was set. Remember what we said about perfect conditions being needed? Mike doesn’t have the World Record, but he does have the distinction of the highest score ever with a 718 and 44 x’s, a truly absurd X count. As was mentioned earlier, the first to achieve the score gets the record until the score is perfect, and only then does the X-count matter. Mike’s bow for the highest score ever shot – Hoyt Stratos 40 SVX.

You did come to the Hoyt blog; and this is where I’m going to point out that piece about our premier compound bow, the Hoyt Stratos. Every one of these world records was shot or has been matched by an archer with a Hoyt Stratos SVX. To achieve this level of performance requires an archer at the top of their game and a bow and arrow combination that matches the human performance. We can confidently say that a shooting machine could meet or exceed all of these records, but bow design needs to have that sometimes-unquantifiable characteristic of “feel” that allows an archer to perform at their absolute peak. Hoyt’s vaunted engineering team is made of archers who attempt to meet that feel for the world’s best archers, and those who are aspiring to challenge them.

To learn more about Hoyt and the Hoyt Stratos, visit HoytTarget.com or your local Hoyt Authorized Retailer.