Türkiye's Emircan Haney shot a national record 718 to take top seed in compound men's qualification at stage two of the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai, falling just one point short of James Lutz's world record set last month at the Gator Cup.
Haney's qualification round at the Yuanshen Sports Centre on Tuesday looked, for stretches, like a serious assault on Lutz's mark of 719, set in Newberry, Florida in April. The Turkish archer was on world record pace until midway through the second half of the round, when he dropped two arrows into the nine ring.
He explained afterwards that he had treated the dropped arrows as separate decisions and refused to let either pull him out of his rhythm.
"The moment I saw that my shot had scored a nine, I immediately put that specific arrow out of my mind and shifted my focus entirely to my remaining shots," Haney said.
He was open about having travelled to Shanghai with the world mark in his sights.
"I came here with the intention of breaking the world record. I knew I was capable of breaking it," Haney said.
He credited the closeness of the result to deliberate work on his mental routine in the lead-up to the stage.
"I've been working much more intensively on my mental focus. During my training sessions, I specifically incorporated exercises designed to help me fully immerse myself in the moment," Haney said.
Haney's 718 edged Denmark's Mathias Fullerton by one point on countback. Fullerton had been shooting almost flawlessly through the first 60 arrows of qualification before dropping his only nine in the final end, costing him the top seed. Mexico's Sebastian Garcia Flores rounded out the top three on 713.
In the compound women's qualification, Alexis Ruiz of the United States took her first World Cup pole position with 707 (30 Xs), edging Mexico's Andrea Becerra (707, 25 Xs) on the X-count tiebreaker. China's Ma Shujia took the third seed on 706.
Ruiz, who had endured a rough stretch at the U.S. Gator Cup earlier in the year, said the morning's qualification had felt unusually settled from the very first end.
"This morning it just felt good. I even made a comment to my mum that today just kind of feels easy and that's not something that comes around very often," Ruiz said.
The top seeding gives Ruiz the best path through the women's compound elimination ladder and underlines a strong bounceback for the U.S. compound program after a difficult opening to the Florida swing of the season.
Lutz's 719 at the Gator Cup, set in April, broke a decade-old world record by Braden Gellenthien and remains the standard for compound men's 50-metre qualification. Haney's 718 in Shanghai is now equal-second on the all-time list and the highest in international competition this year.
The compound elimination rounds begin Wednesday at the Yuanshen Sports Centre, with the team finals coming first and the individual gold medal matches scheduled for Saturday.