The drop on the shoot-off arrow shows up in men and not in women
1 study · 3,645 archers measured
The summary today
Everything comes from a single study, but a well-built one: 2,210 international World Archery matches decided by a shoot-off between 2013 and 2019, adult recurve and compound, with each archer compared with themselves. In men the shoot-off arrow averages 9.167 against 9.25 in the first set of the same match, a significant drop (p below 0.001); in women it goes from 9.002 to 8.982, a difference that cannot be told apart from chance (p = 0.553). So far the claim holds. It stops at the next step: the test that compares the two drops directly falls short of significance (p = 0.064), so it cannot be said that men drop more than women, only that the drop shows up in one group and not in the other. Women also show effects of their own that complicate the picture: shooting the shoot-off in their own country is worth about 2.7% more, reaching it after winning the fifth set 1.8% more, while at world-level events their shoot-off arrow is worth 2.3% less than at other competitions.
Also phrased as: "men choke in the shoot-off"; "shoot-off men and women"; "shoot-off pressure in women archers"; "shoot-off arrow and sex"; "who copes better in a shoot-off"
In practice
In a shoot-off the arrow is said to weigh on everyone in the same way, and people rarely ask whether the pressure hits men and women alike.
Evidence
-
2020
For Archers Published later
3,645 individual observations from 2,210 World Archery matches decided by a shoot-off (2013-2019), adult recurve and compound, archers with at least two matches in the sample: in men the mean score falls from 9.25 in the first set to 9.167 in the shoot-off (t = 3.364, p < 0.001), in women from 9.002 to 8.982 (t = 0.594, p = 0.553).
Choking under pressure in archery · Alessandro Bucciol, Alessandro Castagnetti
-
2020
Context Archers Published later
The authors note that the drop is larger in men, but the test on the equality of the two drops does not confirm it at the 5% level (t = 1.851, p = 0.064): the data allow us to say that the drop shows up in men and not in women, not that men drop more than women.
Choking under pressure in archery · Alessandro Bucciol, Alessandro Castagnetti
-
2020
Context Archers Published later
With separate regressions by sex, shooting the shoot-off in one's own country raises the score by about 2.7% in women and has no effect in men; at world-level events women's shoot-off arrow is worth 2.3% less than at other competitions, while in men the coefficient is not significant.
Choking under pressure in archery · Alessandro Bucciol, Alessandro Castagnetti
-
2020
Context Archers Published later
Reaching the shoot-off after winning the fifth set, that is, after a comeback, is worth 1.8% more in women (p < 0.01) and 1.0% less in men (p < 0.1), with a non-significant +0.2% across the whole sample, holding the fifth-set score constant (PPML models with archer fixed effects; 2,095 male and 1,550 female observations).
Choking under pressure in archery · Alessandro Bucciol, Alessandro Castagnetti
Status history
- 1990 Not studied No study in the registry's bibliography has yet measured the score of the shoot-off arrow, let alone compared it between men and women.
- 2020 Reported The first study to compare the shoot-off arrow with the first set of the same match, across 2,210 international matches from 2013 to 2019, also separates men and women: in men the drop is clear, from 9.25 to 9.167, in women it is minimal, from 9.002 to 8.982, and not significant. The direct comparison between the two drops, however, does not reach significance (p = 0.064), so it can be said that the drop shows up in men, not that men drop more than women. One study, large but with this limit built in: limited evidence in favour.
Related
Related articles
- Choking in archery: how common it is, who it happens to and what goes with itHow many archers say they fall apart in competition, what those who choke most often have in common, and how much pressure costs on measured scores.
- The shoot-off in archery: what one arrow decidesHow the shoot-off works after a five-all, how often it picks the more precise archer (55 to 57 times in 100) and what that arrow is worth in competition.
- Head-to-head matches and qualification: how much more pressure, and what it costs the arrowsBefore head-to-head matches, national squad archers are more anxious than before qualification. What it costs the arrows, and why matches produce upsets.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). The drop on the shoot-off arrow shows up in men and not in women (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/shoot-off-drop-men-and-women
@misc{campagna2026_calospareggiouominidonne,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {The drop on the shoot-off arrow shows up in men and not in women},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/shoot-off-drop-men-and-women},
note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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