Korean archers sweep recurve medals at World Championships

Korean archers swept the recurve podium at the 2021 World Archery Championships, winning all three team gold medals and two individual gold medals for the first time in 12 years.

Kim Woo-jin celebrates winning the individual recurve gold medal at the 2021 World Archery Championships on Sunday in Yankton, South Dakota. [NEWS1]

Korean archers swept the recurve podium at the 2021 World Archery Championships, winning all three team gold medals and two individual gold medals for the first time in 12 years.

The world championship success came just two months after the national team swept the team recurve podium at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics with An San adding another women's individual gold medal to become the first archer in Olympic history to win three gold medals at a single Games.

An San shoots during the 2021 World Archery Championships in Yankton, South Dakota. [WORLD ARCHERY FEDERATION]

This time in Yankton, South Dakota, Team Korea was on it from day one.

An and Kim Woo-jin topped the ranking round on the first day to earn their spots in the mixed team. The duo then took gold, defeating the Russian team with a comfortable 6-0 win in three straight sets.

Korea sent the same archers to South Dakota as they did to Tokyo, with An, Jang Min-hee and Kang Chae-young winning the women's recurve team gold on Friday, conceding the first set to Mexico but winning the second and third sets and tying the fourth to win the match.

An hour later, Kim Je-deok, Kim Woo-jin and Oh Jin-hyek came on the field and defeated the United States in three straight sets to claim gold.

Having already swept the team medals, Korea was looking for a total recurve sweep with the men's and women's individual matches on Sunday, and that is exactly what Jang and Kim Woo-jin were able to achieve.

Kim Woo-jin celebrates winning the individual men's recurve gold medal, his third gold medal at the 2021 World Archery Championships in Yankton, South Dakota on Sunday. [WORLD ARCHERY FEDERATION/YONHAP]

On Sunday morning, Jang beat Casey Kaufhold of the United States to clinch her first ever individual World Championships title and gold medal. Later in the day, Kim Woo-jin defeated Marchus D'Almeida of Brazil, becoming the third male archer ever to win three world titles.

"I don't consider myself the best archer in the world, because I'm not retired yet," Kim said. "I'm looking forward to winning more and more. When I retire, then I might say I'm the best archer in the world."

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]