COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Veteran champions held their ground, a new generation announced itself, and record numbers of archers stepped onto the line. As 2025 closes, USA Archery looks back on a year that blended international medals and historic firsts with investment in the sport’s future at the grassroots, collegiate and para levels.
The year opened with historic recognition for Paralympic champion Matt Stutzman, who was named World Archery’s Archer of the Year and Para Men’s Archer of the Year - the first para athlete ever to receive the sport’s top individual honor. U.S. success continued off the podium as Sawyer Sullivan earned World Archery’s Breakthrough of the Year after a standout 2024 that included a triple-gold performance at a Hyundai Archery World Cup stage in Korea.
USA Archery strengthened its youth pipeline by taking management of the Olympic Archery in Schools (OAS) programfrom the Easton Sports Development Foundation, expanding access to Olympic-style archery for middle and high school students and aligning OAS with existing youth pathways like Explore Archery and JOAD. International attention followed as the U.S. prepared to host Hyundai Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Florida, and domestically the six-week Indoor Nationals season wrapped with record-breaking performances and attendance, memorable finishes and a diverse field set for the Indoor Nationals Final in Las Vegas.
The Indoor Nationals Final in Las Vegas – with total prize money in excess of $70,000 - delivered upsets and fresh champions. Catalina GNoriega took recurve women’s gold while Christian Stoddard claimed recurve men, and teenagers made major impacts across divisions. There was Indoor World Series success for Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold. Collegiate archery remained strong, Texas A&M captured its 23rd national title at Indoor Nationals, and USA Archery announced the rebranding of the National Archery Association Foundation to the USA Archery Foundation, reinforcing an organizational commitment to funding and growing the sport.
At the AAE Arizona Cup, Brady Ellison won his 10th Arizona Cup title as competitors battled windy conditions. The month also featured OAS State Championships - more than 400 student-athletes competed - and USA selected the 24-member U.S. team for the World Archery Youth Championships. The Easton Foundations Gator Cup added memorable world-class moments, including world record-level shooting, shootoffs, and displays of sportsmanship across senior, youth and para divisions, while medals were won on the international stage with World Cup Stage 1 in the Sunshine State.
Carson Krahe stepped onto the World Cup podium with her first individual Archery World Cup medal and the U.S. recurve men’s team returned to the World Cup podium with bronze - the program’s first men’s team World Cup medal since 2022. The 2025 HotelPlanner USA Archery Collegiate Target Nationals drew nearly 500 athletes and produced record-setting performances and emotional finals with University of the Cumberlands taking home the Overall Team Championship . The month also brought a milestone off the line: Paralympic champion Susan Hagel’s induction into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame - the first archer so honored.
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World Cup Stage 3 delivered a historic highlight as the U.S. recurve women’s team - Catalina GNoriega, Casey Kaufhold and Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez - claimed World Cup gold, the program’s first women’s recurve World Cup title since 2015. Back home, the USA Archery Field Nationals tested adaptability and grit and crowned first-time champions alongside successful title defenses, while the Easton Foundations SoCal Showdown produced dramatic upsets and breakthrough winners. Teams for the World Archery Championships and World Archery Para Championships were confirmed, blending Olympians, Paralympians, veterans and rising talent.
Stage 4 of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Spain added four more medals to Team USA’s international haul including a standout mixed team gold for Brady Ellison and Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez. The World University Games and the Americas Para Archery Cup supplied additional international success, while the WIAWIS JOAD Target Nationals and JOAD U.S. Open crowned a new slate of youth champions, set national records and confirmed Lincoln, Nebraska as the 2026 JOAD host. Meanwhile, the curtain came down on the USAT Qualifier Series for 2025 with the Rebel Gear Buckeye Classic, which involved a first-ever gold medal meeting for two international teammates. At the grassroots level, USA Archery partnered with Move United to support the implementation of veterans archery programs at VA Medical Centers.
August was one of the season’s busiest stretches: USA archers excelled at the World Games, the Junior Pan Am Games and the World Archery Youth Championships (including triple gold for Savannah O’Donohue and a rare recurve U21 men’s world title), para athletes continued to top podiums at the Americas Para Archery Cup, and the USA Archery Target Nationals and U.S. Open in Missouri crowned 30 national champions - including double-gold weekends for Brady Ellison and Catalina GNoriega. The month showcased the full breadth of USA Archery’s programs from youth and para development to elite international competition.
Leadership on the international stage shifted as Greg Easton was elected President of World Archery at the World Archery Congress in Korea, while several U.S. representatives won committee roles. It was during the World Archery Congress that the Nations’ Trophy results from 2023 and 2024 were announced. The award ranks the teams with the best results across all categories at all stages of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in a given season, and for both 2023 and 2024, the USA was ranked third, behind Korea and India. Also this month, the USA captured multiple medals at the Hyundai World Archery Championships and the World Archery Para Championships, with notable team silvers and individual world titles that reflected both veteran leadership and emerging talent.
Collegiate 3D Nationals in Alabama set a participation record with 481 athletes and welcomed three first-time programs, signaling rapid growth for collegiate 3D competition. The University of Rio Grande upset a long-standing order to capture the Overall Team title, and U.S. archers collected golds across the Pan American Field Archery Championships. Brady Ellison added a sixth Archery World Cup Final title in Nanjing, China, underscoring enduring excellence at the sport’s highest levels.
The Youth Para Pan American Games produced standout performances - including double gold for Ephraim Tonn-Bourg - and the domestic club landscape celebrated growth and excellence as North Side Archery Club in Chicago became the first to sweep USA Archery’s Club Excellence Awards. USA Archery also unveiled updates to the OAS program, positioning the program for broader impact in 2026.
USA Archery closed the year by outlining a new elite competition pathway: the inaugural USAT Series Final, set for August 12, 2026 in Springfield, Missouri, featuring a $50,000 prize purse and an expanded high-pressure final to bridge domestic and world-stage competition. Indoor season results included Brady Ellison’s Rio Indoor 250 victory as he opened his Indoor World Series campaign, and the organization honored coaches whose work powered athlete development nationwide with Coach of the Year awards. The USA, meanwhile, took 12 of the 23 awards on offer when World Archery Americas announced the best from 2025.
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Across 2025, USA Archery combined podium success with program growth: international medals at World Cups, World Championships and multi-sport events; meaningful expansion of youth access through OAS, another successful Virtual Symposium, plus partnerships with Positive Athlete, Winward Academy, IHEA-USA and USA Sports Benefits.
There was record participation at collegiate and 3D events; and strengthened support structures via the USA Archery Foundation and coach development. The year balanced triumphs from seasoned champions with breakthrough moments from rising athletes - a healthy, multi-layered picture of a sport that is deepening at every level.
As USA Archery moves into 2026, that momentum - measured in medals, new faces on the podium, fuller fields and broader participation - will guide the organization’s work; expanding access, investing in pathways, and giving athletes the opportunities they need to perform when it matters most.
USA Archery extends its sincere thanks to its members - athletes, coaches, clubs, volunteers, officials, sponsors and partners - whose dedication, passion and commitment made 2025 a year to remember.
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