While aiming, the bow sways more horizontally than vertically · What changed

Claim page revised, version 2

Mon, 21 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMT

Three independent studies of archers find that the aim moves more horizontally than vertically. In 2005, in 12 Taiwanese archers at 70 metres, with a laser pointer on the grip, the aim over the last second and a half varies more horizontally in ten out of twelve, but with no test at all; in 2006, in 7 international-level junior recurve archers, the horizontal amplitude over the last second before the shot exceeds the vertical one in all seven, with a significant difference archer by archer; in 2010, in 4 elite Turkish women archers, the point of aim travels 13.0 centimetres horizontally across the target against 11.6 vertically over 108 arrows. A 2011 abstract suggests why: in 15 recurve archers the horizontal component is largely a slow drift, below 1 Hz, and is not linked to the score, while the vertical one is. There are two limits. The two studies that test the difference cover eleven archers in all, indoors, at 18 and 30 metres, and the outdoor one has no statistics; and the ratio between the two directions changes with the archer and with the instrument, so much so that in two of the twelve Taiwanese archers it is level or reversed, and in three German national team archers measured with an optical system on the bow the horizontal dominance shows up as a tendency in only one, while a video shot from behind makes it appear even where that system does not find it.

History updated: entry for 2010, Reported

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMT

A third sample arrives, independent of the previous two: in 4 elite Turkish women archers, 108 arrows at 18 metres, the point of aim travels 13.0 centimetres horizontally across the target against 11.6 vertically, from settling into the aim to the release (p < 0.05). Three studies of archers now point the same way, but the two with a test come to eleven people, indoors, and in the same year a comparison of instruments on three German national team archers finds, with the reference system, only a tendency towards horizontal dominance, and in just one of the three. The direction is consistent and the subjects are few: the status stays reported.

History updated: entry for 2006, Reported

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMT

The second sample, independent of the first, is the first to put the difference to a test: 7 international-level junior recurve archers, 66 arrows at 30 metres indoors. Over the last second before the shot the horizontal amplitude of the aim exceeds the vertical one in all seven, with mean values between 0.60 and 0.91 points against 0.41 and 0.65, and the difference is significant for each archer; between two seconds and one second before the shot, by contrast, it holds for only five of the seven. Two studies now point the same way, but only one has a test and together they come to nineteen people: the status stays reported.

History updated: entry for 2005, Reported

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 08:00:00 GMT

The first measurement comes from twelve archers on the men's team of a Taiwanese college of physical education, twelve arrows at 70 metres, with a laser pointer on the grip tracing the aim onto a light target. Over the last second and a half before the release the aim varies more horizontally than vertically in ten archers out of twelve; in the other two the two directions are level or reversed. It is a description archer by archer, with no test at all, in a single study: reported.

"While aiming, the bow sways more horizontally than vertically" added to the registry as Reported

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 08:00:00 GMT