At seventy metres an elite archer's arrow arrives in a little over a second, at an average of fifty to sixty metres a second
3 studies · 59 archers measured
The summary today
Two independent measurements on elite archers give the same order of magnitude. The first uses a field chronometer mounted on the bow, which starts when the point passes a sensor and stops when the target registers the impact: across twenty archers from the Turkish national team and its candidates, at seventy metres, the arrow takes on average 1.29 seconds, and a week later each archer finds almost the same value again. The same paper gives a mean speed of 184 kilometres an hour, a little over fifty metres a second, although seventy metres divided by 1.29 seconds would come to slightly more, and the difference is not explained. The second measurement uses high-speed cameras aimed at the target and, across thirty-nine elite recurve archers from four countries, finds a flight time of 1.24 seconds, which over seventy metres works out at an average of about fifty-six metres a second. The figure should be read for what it is: it is the average over the whole flight, while the arrow leaves the bow faster, around sixty metres a second according to a calculation on a 202-newton Olympic bow, and then slows down on the way. What neither measurement says is whether, for the same archer, a faster arrow is worth points. There are only two studies, and the first does not make its speed and time agree: that is why the status is "Reported".
Also phrased as: "arrow speed"; "flight time at 70 metres"; "how long the arrow takes to arrive"; "average arrow speed"; "arrow speed in km/h"
In practice
Archers say that at seventy metres the arrow 'takes more than a second', and speed is measured with a chronograph in front of the bow, as if it held for the whole flight.
Evidence
-
2001
Context Model Published later
A calculation on two 660 mm arrows with a 202 N Olympic bow: the arrow stays on the string for 12.5 and 13.1 ms, leaves at 62.6 and 59.5 m/s and passes the grip area in 3.0 and 3.1 ms. This is launch speed, higher than the average over the whole flight because the arrow slows down on the way.
Lateral deflection of archery arrows · Zanevskyy
-
2005
For Archers Published later
A field chronometer that measures flight time and mean speed from the moment the point passes a sensor on the bow to the impact: twenty elite archers from the Turkish national team and its candidates, half of them juniors, twelve arrows at 70 m outdoors. Flight time 1.290 ± 0.030 s, mean speed 184.19 ± 4.54 km/h, about 51 m/s.
Reliability and validity testing of an archery chronometer · Hayri Ertan, Behzat B. Kentel, S. Turgut Tümer, Feza Korkusuz
-
2005
Context Archers Published later
A repeat one week later, in similar weather: mean speed 184.19 ± 4.54 km/h against 183.71 ± 4.40, ICC 0.990 (95% CI 0.976-0.996), mean difference 0.481 km/h, small but significant (p = 0.002). Flight time 1.290 against 1.287 s, ICC 0.992. The reference value is stable over time for the same archer.
Reliability and validity testing of an archery chronometer · Hayri Ertan, Behzat B. Kentel, S. Turgut Tümer, Feza Korkusuz
-
2017
For Archers Published later
Thirty-nine elite recurve archers from four countries, ten arrows at 70 m shot from a covered facility to an outdoor target: with four high-speed cameras at 200 Hz the flight time comes out at 1.24 ± 0.06 s. Speed is not reported.
Postural stability, clicker reaction time and bow draw force predict performance in elite recurve archery · Wayne Spratford, Rhiannon Campbell
Status history
- 2001 Not studied The first figures in the bibliography come from a calculation and concern the moment the arrow leaves the bow, not its flight: with a 202-newton Olympic bow the arrow stays on the string for about thirteen thousandths of a second and leaves it at 59.5 to 62.6 metres a second. On how long it takes to reach seventy metres, and at what mean speed, there is still no measurement: not studied.
- 2005 Reported The first measurement on archers arrives. A field chronometer mounted on the bow follows twenty elite archers from the Turkish national team and its candidates, twelve arrows at seventy metres: flight time 1.290 seconds with a standard deviation of 0.030, and a stated mean speed of 184 kilometres an hour, a little over fifty metres a second. A week later each archer finds almost the same value again, with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.992 for time and 0.990 for speed. The design is sound, but there is only one study: reported.
- 2017 Reported A second measurement, independent and taken with a different instrument, confirms the order of magnitude: with high-speed cameras at 200 frames per second, thirty-nine elite recurve archers from four countries send the arrow seventy metres in 1.24 seconds, with a standard deviation of 0.06. The study does not report speed, but over seventy metres that time works out at an average of about fifty-six metres a second, above the 184 kilometres an hour stated in 2005, which in turn does not agree with the time measured in that study. The two samples agree on a little over a second, but there are only two of them and the mean speed remains a range of fifty to sixty metres a second: the status stays reported.
Related
Related articles
- How fast an arrow flies: the metres per second, what decides them and how much they matter on the targetHow many metres a second recurve and compound arrows fly, what decides launch speed, and how much speed matters on the target and for the score.
- The follow-through: what happens after the arrow has goneIn the top archers measured, the arrow leaves the string in about 15 milliseconds. What the body does next, what studies have found and where they stop.
- Indoor vs outdoor archery: key differences and seasonal adaptationsIndoor vs outdoor archery: what changes between 18 and 70 metres, what the only study of the shot at both distances found, and what research says about moving between distances.
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). At seventy metres an elite archer's arrow arrives in a little over a second, at an average of fifty to sixty metres a second (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/arrow-speed-seventy-metres
@misc{campagna2026_velocitafreccia70metri,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {At seventy metres an elite archer's arrow arrives in a little over a second, at an average of fifty to sixty metres a second},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/equipment/arrow-speed-seventy-metres},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
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