Record number of entrants for World Archery Championships in Copenhagen

The number of archers in the men's recurve competition will exceed 200 for the first time ©World Archery

The number of competitors in the men’s individual recurve event at the World Archery Championships in Copenhagen has passed the 200 mark, it has been announced, making the competition the biggest in the sport’s history.

World Archery has revealed that 229 men will compete for three gold medals in the recurve discipline at their Championships, due begin in the Danish capital next Sunday (July 26) and run through to August 3.

It represents the first time that more than 200 athletes have competed in a single archery discipline at the sport’s annual showpiece.

The event at the Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish Parliament, offers 24 Olympic quota places per gender in the team event, while eight individual spots for men and eight for women are also at stake.

A total of 63 men’s recurve teams and 45 women’s teams will compete for a coveted Rio 2016 quota spot.

The 2015 World Championships are also set to be the largest ever held, with 623 archers representing 96 countries already registered to compete.

That total beats the previous highest, set at the 2011 competition in Turin, an event which offered Olympic qualifying places for London 2012, where 562 athletes took part.

The upcoming World Archery Championships are set to be the biggest-ever ©Getty Images

“The proof of archery’s growth at the international level is in the numbers,” World Archery President Uğur Erdener said.

“It is a universal approach to developing the sport from the ground up that drives this growth.

“Working with our Member Federations through the second stage of our World Archery Plan, we aim to make the sport strong in each country and archery available to all.

“We are on the right track, and that is evident in the number of countries that can now field a competitive team at a World Championships.

“Whoever takes to the finals field at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, we’re promised an exciting finale to the largest World Archery Championships in history.”

Ahead of the start of the event, the World Archery Congress will also be held, where elections for the positions of World Archery vice-president and Executive Board Member will take place.

A number of issues are set to be discussed at the two-day Congress, scheduled to take place on Friday and Saturday (July 24 and 25), including how best the sport can implement the changes brought about by the International Olympic Committee’s Agenda 2020 reforms.