Belgium’s Ruben Vanhollebeke broke his own VI world record by seven points during qualifying at the Gwangju 2025 World Archery Para Championships.
Vanhollebeke shot a front half of 241 and a back half of 266 for a 507, leading a field of nine in the VI 1 category.
Visually impaired athletes shoot at 30 metres using tactile sights that touch the back of their hands to aim; they are permitted an assistant to help load arrows and score.
Men and women compete together in each of the two categories. Unlike the other three bowstyles contested at the para worlds, VI archery is not yet on the programme of the Paralympics.
The Belgian is going for a third world title in VI 1, after wins at ’s-Hertogenbosch 2019 and Dubai 2022. He placed third last time out at Pilsen 2023. Vanhollebeke will compete for gold with Christos Misos of Greece, many times a silver medallist at world level and looking for his first major after a win on the European para circuit this year.
In the VI 2/3 category, where partially sighted athletes wear blindfolds, Nicholas Thomas of Great Britain topped the table with 592. He will shoot for gold with the number two seed Kathleen Meurrens of Belgium tomorrow.
The day also saw team eliminations in recurve, compound and W1. (Team competition at the para worlds is now all doubles competition – there are no longer teams of three competing).
The big drama was in the semifinals of the recurve women, where top seeds China were beaten 6-2 by the host nation Korea and second seeds Italy were beaten by Mongolia, also 6-2.
Korea, who only took a single bronze medal at the last worlds in Pilsen, also made a breakthrough in women’s W1 where they will go for gold against China.
In a sign of the strength in depth of Chinese athletes in para archery, China also figure in the recurve men, compound men and men’s W1 finals, meaning they will contest six of the nine gold team finals in the next two days – and they also contest the bronze final in the three categories they are not contesting gold.
The competition continues with VI and compound finals on Saturday.
You can watch the recurve, compound, and W1 finals live streamed from Gwangju with a subscription to archery+. The VI finals will also be available at a later date.
