In competition, archers stay hydrated on less than a litre an hour

The summary today

The main measurements exist, and they come from the same research group and the same national team. In May 2023, over four days of a World Cup stage at 23.7 degrees, eight world-class Turkish archers, four men and four women, drank 0.66 litres an hour while competing, with no difference between the sexes, lost 0.58% of their body mass on average, and kept their urine specific gravity below 1.020 throughout, the threshold above which dehydration is usually said to begin. A month earlier, at a European Grand Prix at 14.5 degrees, six archers from the same team were hydrated before and after shooting and slightly dehydrated only on waking. In both cases the driest moment of the day is the morning, not the end of the competition. There are three limits: the archers are few and probably partly the same people, their diet was managed by a nutritionist, and the weather was mild. A 2026 measurement on eleven Indonesian university archers, over one outdoor qualification round, estimates fluid losses of 200 to 700 ml each: how much an archer needs to drink varies a great deal from one person to the next.

Also phrased as: "how much to drink in competition"; "hydration during an archery competition"; "litres of water on a competition day"; "drinking between ends"

Evidence

• 2024
  Context Archers Published later

  6 archers from the Turkish national team, all men, followed for four days at a European Grand Prix in April 2023, at 14.5 ± 0.5 °C and with a nutritionist-led diet: urine specific gravity is below 1.020 before and after competing and before bed, and above 1.020 on waking (waking against pre-competition p = 0.004, against post-competition p = 0.046). How much they drank is not measured.

  Energy intake, hydration status, and sleep of world-class male archers during competition · Ozcan Esen, Ian Walshe, Stuart Goodall

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  8 archers from the Turkish national team, 4 men and 4 women, followed for four days at the first World Cup stage of 2023, at 23.7 ± 2.1 °C and with a nutritionist-led diet: urine specific gravity stays below 1.020 at every time point, with no differences between days or between before and after competing (p > 0.05), and body mass loss during competition is 0.58 ± 0.32%.

  Sex differences in energy intake, sweat rate, and electrolyte loss among world-class archers during competition · Ozcan Esen, Stuart Goodall

• 2025
  For Archers Published later

  In the same competition, with water and sports drinks freely available, the archers drink 0.66 ± 0.21 litres an hour on average, with no difference between men and women (p > 0.05). It is the only measurement in the literature of how much an archer drinks while shooting, and it sits within the 0.4 to 0.8 litres an hour that general guidance gives for athletes.

  Sex differences in energy intake, sweat rate, and electrolyte loss among world-class archers during competition · Ozcan Esen, Stuart Goodall

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  The driest moment of the day is waking up, not the end of competition: the effect of time of day is F = 13.89 (p < 0.001, partial eta squared 0.69), with specific gravity higher on waking than before (p = 0.029) and after competing (p = 0.028), while always staying below 1.020. Body mass loss during competition is 0.75 ± 0.19% in the men and 0.33 ± 0.50% in the women.

  Sex differences in energy intake, sweat rate, and electrolyte loss among world-class archers during competition · Ozcan Esen, Stuart Goodall

• 2025
  Context Archers Published later

  The men sweat more than the women (p = 0.002), but sweat sodium is similar: 45.2 ± 9.7 mmol/l on average, 40.2 in the men and 50.2 in the women, with no difference in either mmol/l or mg/h. On potassium (3.8 ± 1 mmol/l) the paper contradicts itself: the text says it is higher in the men (p = 0.006), while the table gives 3 mmol/l for the men and 4.6 for the women and marks the women as higher.

  Sex differences in energy intake, sweat rate, and electrolyte loss among world-class archers during competition · Ozcan Esen, Stuart Goodall

• 2026
  Context Archers Published later

  11 archers from a university club in Jakarta weighed before and after one outdoor qualification round in a single session: fluid loss estimated from body weight ranges from 200 to 700 ml, with a mean of 390.9 ml and a median of 400; two archers lose less than 200 ml, six between 201 and 400, two between 401 and 600 and one between 601 and 800. Neither temperature nor fluid intake is recorded, and the journal is a regional one.

  The Effect of a One-Session Archery Qualification Round on Body Fluid Loss among University Archery Athletes · Nurikhwan Aziz Arifin, Ikroom Pranajaya, Masyita Siregar

Status history

1. 2024 Not studied The first measurement of archers' hydration in competition arrives: six men from the Turkish national team, followed for four days at a European Grand Prix at 14.5 degrees, are hydrated before and after shooting and slightly dehydrated only on waking. How much they drank, however, is not recorded, and their diet was managed by a nutritionist. The measurable part of the claim, the amount, still has no number: not studied.
2. 2025 Reported The same group returns to the same national team at the first World Cup stage of 2023, at 23.7 degrees, with four men and four women, and this time counts the fluids: 0.66 litres an hour in competition, the same for both sexes, with 0.58% of body mass lost and urine specific gravity always below 1.020. The men sweat more than the women, and the driest moment of the day is still waking up. It is the first evidence in favour, but it comes from eight archers on a single team supported by a nutritionist: reported.
3. 2026 Reported Eleven archers from a university club in Jakarta, weighed before and after one outdoor qualification round, lose between 200 and 700 ml each, 391 ml on average. The study records neither how much they drank nor the temperature, so it does not test the one-litre threshold, but it shows that fluid needs can differ by a factor of three and a half from one archer to the next. The status stays reported.

Related

Related articles

• Hydration and nutrition on competition day in archery: a practical guideHow much to drink and what to eat on competition day in archery: what the day costs, what dehydration changes and what studies on archers have measured.
• What happens in the body on competition day: saliva, blood, urine, food and fluidsCortisol, salivary IgA, blood glucose, urinary lactate, food and fluids: what changes in an archer's body on competition day, according to the measurements.

Research lines

• 14 studiesWater, food and sleep on competition days
• 8 studiesWhat a competition day weighs

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