Paris 2024 Olympics: Korea's Lim Si-hyeon breaks women’s individual archery World Record
The first World Record achievement of the Paris 2024 Olympics has already been recorded by South Korea’s Lim Si-hyeon on Day 1 of the games. In an enthralling display of archery at Invalides, Si-hyeon, who is making her Olympics debut, smashed the world record in the Women’s Individual Ranking Round in archery with an incredible score of 694 at the end of twelve rounds.
In doing so, the athlete has broken the previous standing record of 692 achieved by fellow South Korean athlete Kang Chae-young Kong at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2019. The way the archer was going, her achieving this World Record was anticipated at the halfway mark itself.
Si-hyeon needed to score 58 from her final six arrows to go past Kang Chae-young’s world record. The 21-year-old went one better and scored 59 points on her path to uncharted glory. The Olympic Games in Paris which have begun today (July 25) with the archery events, has seen a first World Record falling within hours of the games commencing. Sihyeon appeared proud while holding up a card that said ‘694’, her final score.
Lim Si-hyeon shot 21 inner 10s and finished ahead of their counterpart, Nam Su-hyeon. Nam herself achieved a personal best final score of 688 to come second. In third place with 673 points stood China’s Xiaolei, who recorded 673 points.
Lim Si-hyeon also helps South Korea break Olympic Record in team rankings
Not only did Lim Si-hyeon break the individual record, but she and her teammate, Nam Su-hyeon, also guided South Korea in achieving an Olympic Record. With a score of 2046, the two archers helped their country achieve the Olympic Record in the Women's Archery Team Rankings.
By finishing ahead of China’s 1996 points, South Korea took the top spot in the team rankings. Lim is seen by many as a favorite to win a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and with this record-breaking display of her skills, the archer has announced herself onto the biggest of sporting stages in a thumping fashion.