The largest archery competition in the world recently took place in Las Vegas on Feb. 10-12. Held at the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa, the 51^st Vegas Shoot and the 4^th round of the Indoor Archery World Cup launched their events with many of the top archers in the world. Participation in this year’s competition almost reached 3,500 shooters, with an astounding 275 last-day registers. There were 300 more participants than last year. Over $400,000 in cash and scholarships were given away to those deserving winners in this year’s events. There were 217 competition targets lined up across six halls, all being used at the same time.

The Vegas Shoot had an amazing opening day with a total of 64 shooters who shot perfect scores, which is 24 more than in 2016. Among those 64 perfect-shooters was Sara Lopez, who bravely entered the open championship division, which includes male and female competitors. Lopez ultimately became the first woman to enter the open championship division, placed 79^th in the category, and was deemed the compound woman of the year. Sara Lopez made a statement on the competition: “I wanted to challenge myself,” she said. “In this competition the mental game is essential. It has taken me three months of heavy practice to prepare for this event and shooting against the men. It doesn’t matter if I shot 300 on Saturday or Sunday. What I really wanted to prove is that men and women can be at the same level in archery.”

Jesse Broadwater impressively defended his 2^nd Indoor Archery World Cup Champion Title during the finale. “The Vegas Shoot is one of the toughest competitions to win in archery, it’s very satisfying that I made it happen,” Broadwater said after this intense archery session. Jesse earned his title for the second year in a row.

Ultimately, Mike Schloesser became the Vegas Shoot’s 2017 champion. Schloesser pulled a perfect score on day two, leading him to his much deserved second championship. “Mister Perfect” shot a perfect 600 on the World Archery 18-meter ranking round, leading him straight to his $51,000 cash prize.

Check out this video and this video to see some of the action.

For other videos, info and events, check out worldarchery.org.

Other winners of this major world archery event include:

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