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Archery has come a long way since its beginning as a men’s only sport in the 1900’s. These days women are a huge part of the sport with the average draw rate of 34 pounds. During a 4 day tournament, a bow can be picked up and used over 300 times. That’s pulling around 5 tons per tournament, which is quite the workout!

Let’s take a look at some of the elite women behind the bows who are making their names known in archery. Here are 5 noteworthy American women in archery:

Archery Events Occur Year Round

All year long and all around the world, different archery events take place including the Olympics! Doing well in these events help women become nationally ranked through the USA Archery system in categories of: adult, senior, and master. Categories are classified under the type of bow used, including the compound, recurve, and barebow.

5 Elite Women In Archery

Cara Kelly

Cara Kelly has been a professional archer for over 20 years in the women’s professional division. She has a long tradition of winning national and world titles for the ASA and IBO competitions which includes Women’s Pro Shooter of the Year 7x over. As a mom of two kids, Kelly hasn’t slowed down from winning competitions as a professional shooter.

Crystal Gauvin

Crystal Gauvin is an economist turned professional archer when she decided to quit her job and follow her dreams in 2013. Gauvin is one of the highest ranked female archers in the world and has been a part of the US National and World Championship teams. For a large part of her career she used a compound bow, but in 2020 she switched to the recurve hoping to join the Olympic team. Someday Gauvin would like to share her passion by coaching future archers in the sport.

Mackenzie Brown

At the young age of 24 Mackenzie Brown is one of the most decorated archers in the world. She is a two time olympian having visited Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020. In order to keep on top of her sport, Brown lives in California for close access to the Olympic training center.

Just like Katniss from the Hunger Games films, Brown goes by the nickname "Girl on Fire" since she is also an expert at using recurve bows.

Cassidy Cox

“[I] like to beat the boys with the arrows,”says top archer Cassidy Cox. It's true that Cox, at 24 years old, can beat quite a few men with a bow and arrow. Her collection of more than 10 medals includes a silver at the World Archery Indoor Championship in 2016, as well as a team gold at the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Berlin in 2017.

Eva Shockey

35 year old Eva Shockey is arguably the most famous female archer in the world. Not only is she an avid bowhunter, brand ambassador, and small business owner with a line of Bowtech compound bows, Shockey co-hosts a television show on the outdoor channel, with her dad Jim Shockey, called “Hunting Adventures.” In tribute to the sport, she named her daughter Leni "Bow" Brent.