HOW TO: 720 ROUND
How To Shoot a 720 Round
The 720 Round, also known as an Olympic Round, is a long distance target archery competition which is the standard for the Olympic Games. It consists of seventy two total arrows, each worth a maximum of ten points shot at distance of 70 meters (approx 77 yards) for recurve archers and 50 meters for archers using compound bows. The maximum score is 10×72=720 points, which is where the name of the round is derived.
Format
The 720 Round is a Target Round (i.e. not a Field Archery Round) meaning an archer shoots at only one target for the entire round and shoots from level ground. Multiple archers will shoot at the same 122cm target (Recurve) or 80cm target (Compound) during a 720 Round.
A 720 Round consists of 12 ends of 6 arrows for a total of 72 arrows at a standard 122cm 10-ring target: (12 ends x 6 arrows = 72 arrows). The distance and target size depending on the bow style. Archers shoot at a 122cm target @ 70 meters (Recurve/LongBow) or 80cm target @ 50 meters (Compound) during a 720 Round. A perfect score of 72 arrows all hitting the 10 ring would be 720 points.
There is a 3 minute time limit for each end — which is plenty of time to shoot slowly with proper control. There’s no need to rush.
Standard archery whistle commands are used to signal the start and end of the shooting time. Disobeying the whistle commands can result in disqualification, and a zero for your score, so stay safe.
The standard target face for the 720 Round is a 10 ring, 5 color, 122cm FITA target face for recurve & longbow archers.
Compound archers will us a smaller 6 ring, 3 color, 80cm FITA target from a distance of 50 meters.
Scoring
For scoring, each ring from the outside is worth one additional point, except the innermost gold ring. This means that the rings are worth:
White 1 or 2 Points
Black 3 or 4 Points
Blue 5 or 6 Points
Red 7 or 8 Points
Gold 9 or 10 Points
There are some peculiarities with the innermost gold ring (called the “X” ring). “X”s or Spiders, as they as sometimes called, are used for tie-breaking purposes. It is written on the scorecard as “X”, and is counted as 10 points. If two competing archers attain the same score at the end of the tournament, the victor is decided by who has more “X”s.
Scoring Etiquette
See the main Scoring Etiquette section.
Shooting Layout:
The ground is relatively flat, no trees or landscaping should obstruct the target in the shooting lane.
A note about Age Divisions: “Senior” in archery means adult (18-49), not “Senior Citizen”. The Division for archers 50 or older is called the “Masters” division. Please reference the USA Archery Age Guidelines to correctly determine your age group.
720 Round @ the PRA
On the 3rd Sunday of each month, PRA hosts a World Archery (FITA/USAA) 720 Round. Archers wishing to participate in the 720 Round meet at Target 22 on the Southern portion of the range. Official scoring starts at 8:00A, but archers are encouraged to arrive no later than 7:30A to Set-Up, Sight-In and Practice.
A 720 Round, aka “Olympic Round,” consists of 6 ends of 12 arrows each, shot at 70 meters for Olympic Recurve style bows at a standard 122cm 10-ring target (or 50 meters for Compound bow at a standard 80cm 10-ring target), for a total of 72 arrows. A perfect score of 72 arrows all hitting the 10 ring would be 720.
Junior archers shoot at reduced distances set according to their age group.
