Thirty years on from their battle for Olympic gold in Atlanta and two of archery’s greats were once again setting new standards, on the same day yet thousands of miles apart.
Justin Huish and Michele Frangilli (ITA) met at the quarterfinal stage of the 1996 Olympic Games, with the U.S. archer prevailing after a double shootoff. Huish would go on to win the first of his two gold medals at the ’96 Games, following it with team gold during which the USA and Huish defeated Frangilli and Italy in the semifinals.
Almost 30 years to the day, Frangilli was setting a new recurve 50+ men’s qualification world record with a score of 680 for the 72-arrow 60-metre round at the Freccia D’argento in Voghera, northern Italy. Frangilli’s score beat the previous mark by two points.
More than 6,000 miles away, at the 2026 California State Outdoor Championships in Simi Valley, Calif., double Olympic gold medalist Huish set a new world’s best, again in recurve 50+, but in the double 72-arrow 60-metre round.
“The last time I shot recurve was at U.S. Outdoor Nationals in Lubbock, Texas, in 2024 (pictured above),” Huish said. “A couple of months later I injured my right shoulder setting up a compound for the first time. I kept trying to shoot through it, then stopped completely to let it heal, but when I came back I couldn’t even pull my recurve bow back. I thought I was done shooting recurve for about a year and a half.
“I was still able to shoot compound, so that scratched the competition itch while I was nursing the injury. Then a local physical trainer told me it wasn’t really the shoulder - it was my pecs pulling on it. Some body work and stretching had me shooting recurve again within five weeks. I had no plans to shoot tournaments with it; I was just grateful to be able to blank-bale at home here and there.”
Huish entered the California State Outdoor Championships in the 50+ division, with no expectations beyond getting through the weekend.
“I had no goals going into it other than trying to muscle through 72 arrows each day and have some fun,” he said. “It wasn’t until I got home that first day and people started calling, telling me I was two points off the (72-arrow 60-metre round) world record, that the pressure started to ratchet up. I was there just for fun, and suddenly I was faced with this challenge the next day.”
Huish shot 676 on the Saturday, two points shy of what was then the world record. Frangilli would set his score of 680 on the Sunday, the very day that Huish returned for his second set of 72 arrows and shattered the recurve 50+ double 72-arrow 60-metre world best. The previous high had been 1324; Huish shot 1354!
Huish said he was unaware of Frangilli’s record until later that Sunday evening. “Mark Hainline forwarded me a link to Frangilli’s Facebook post,” Huish said. “I couldn’t believe it. For the two of us, with our history, 30 years later, not just breaking world records but doing it on the exact same day is epic. I messaged him that night congratulating him. Cool story.”
As for what the new mark means, Huish was both proud and measured. “I’m stoked to have broken this and don’t want to diminish it,” he said. “But I don’t think the world record is where it should be. There’s a lot of room still left. It seems there just haven’t been enough of our high scorers staying healthy enough, or continuing to compete into their 50s, to push a record like this to a mark worthy of some of the other records in the sport.”
With the lengthy layoff due to injury, whether or not this is a full comeback remains to be seen. “I’m just following my heart,” Huish said. “I’m not sure what that means right now but it would be a crazy story if I made that LA28 team - 32 years on!”
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