The Southpoint Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, hosted the Indoor Archery World Series Finals for the last time on Saturday, February 3, 2024 — and the occasion, fittingly, was one of the most memorable in the circuit's history. The 16 top-ranked archers in each of the four championship categories converged on the arena for the season showpiece, with Brady Ellison, James Lutz, Michelle Kroppen and defending champion Elisa Roner all etching their names into the 2024 record books by the end of the night.
It was the fifth and final leg of a season that had run through Lausanne, Luxembourg, Taipei and Nîmes since October, with the Finals hosted inside the venue that has served as the grand finale of indoor archery for over a decade. With the Vegas Shoot already underway as the biggest open-participation indoor archery event on the planet — attracting a record 4,491 archers in 2024 — the Finals added an extra layer of drama to an already electric weekend. Saturday night's format was all-or-nothing elimination: one match bracket, one chance at glory for the season's finest 64 archers.
Competition Format
- Distance: 18 metres, indoors, on a 40 cm triangular tri-spot target face for the televised gold medal matches.
- Seedings: Based on the elite Indoor World Series ranking accumulated across the season (best three results per athlete).
- Recurve Matches: Set system — best of five sets, three arrows per set, two points for a win, one each for a tie, shoot-off at 5–5.
- Compound Matches: Cumulative scoring — five ends of three arrows, maximum 150 points, shoot-off on a tie.
- Prize Money: CHF 40,000 distributed across final placings, with the series champion in each category receiving CHF 10,000.
Men's Recurve — Brady Ellison's Fourth Indoor Crown
Brady Ellison, the five-time Olympian and most decorated man in Indoor World Series history, came into Las Vegas having secured his Finals spot after a resurgent indoor season. What he produced in the gold medal match against world number one Marcus D'Almeida (Brazil) was nothing short of extraordinary: 12 perfect arrows, three ends of 30, a flawless 6-2 shutout of the best recurve man on the planet. It was Ellison's first indoor circuit crown since 2016 and the fourth of his career, and he delivered it with characteristic grit and precision on archery's biggest indoor stage.
"It's been a while since I've won this one," Ellison said immediately after the match. "To shoot the way I've been shooting in my basement and bring it here to the final is awesome." The 35-year-old American — who had just welcomed his second child earlier in the week — showed no signs of fatigue, dropping D'Almeida with the kind of clinical, pressure-proof performance that has defined his career across three Olympic cycles.
- 🥇 Gold: Brady Ellison (USA) — His fourth Indoor World Series title, and his first since 2016. Twelve consecutive perfect arrows in the final. A masterclass in closing out a match under the brightest lights.
- 🥈 Silver: Marcus D'Almeida (Brazil) — The world number one entered the Finals as the top seed and produced an excellent tournament, but could not match Ellison's perfection on the final night.
- 🥉 Bronze: Steve Wijler (Netherlands) — The defending Indoor World Series champion, who had won at both Lausanne and Nîmes and entered the Finals as the series ranking leader, fell short of a third successive title but claimed bronze with a 7-3 win over Spain's Miguel Acha.
Women's Recurve — Michelle Kroppen Makes German History
Germany had long been one of recurve archery's dominant nations, but the Indoor World Series had remained elusive — until Saturday night. Michelle Kroppen, the two-time European champion who had claimed bronze at Nîmes just two weeks earlier, delivered one of the performances of the night in the gold medal match, defeating home favourite Casey Kaufhold (USA) 6-4 in five sets before a roaring Vegas crowd. Kroppen became the fourth German archer to win the Indoor Archery World Series Finals, and the first women's world series champion from her country.
The match was tense from the first arrow: Kaufhold — who had turned 21 that very week and was competing in the Finals on the back of wins at both the Vegas Shoot open category and a shoot-down against Victoria Sebastian — pushed Kroppen all the way. But the German's experience and composure in the big moments proved decisive, her final set clinching the title to the delight of a packed arena that had been pulling hard for the American.
- 🥇 Gold: Michelle Kroppen (Germany) — The fourth German to win the Indoor World Series Finals. A landmark result not just for Kroppen personally, but for German archery on the international indoor stage.
- 🥈 Silver: Casey Kaufhold (USA) — A magnificent runner-up result for the 21-year-old American, who fought Kroppen the full distance in five sets. A silver in her first Indoor World Series Finals appearance was a tremendous result for one of the brightest young talents in women's recurve.
- 🥉 Bronze: Marie Horackova (Czech Republic) — The Berlin 2023 World Championship silver medallist claimed the bronze, defeating Italy's Chiara Rebagliati in the third-place match.
Men's Compound — Lutz Edges Schloesser by a Single Point
After Mike Schloesser's sensational display of five consecutive perfect 150s at Nîmes — the greatest compound matchplay run ever seen at an international event — the compound men's final was the most anticipated match of the night. Two former World Archery champions faced each other under the lights: Schloesser (2013 World Champion) against James Lutz (2019 World Champion). The match lived up to every expectation.
Lutz, who had been in strong form across the season and reached the Nîmes final just a fortnight earlier, shot with remarkable composure against the world's best compound archer. The margin was as fine as it gets in compound archery: 149 points for Lutz to 148 for Schloesser — one single point separating the two over 15 arrows. "Every match against Mike is gonna be really hard," said Lutz after the win. "It's just another good match that we had and I finally won my way for once." It was a maiden Indoor World Series title for the American and a fitting punctuation mark on a season that had also seen him win at the Taipei Open.
- 🥇 Gold: James Lutz (USA) — A maiden Indoor World Series title for the 2019 World Archery Champion, edging Schloesser 149-148 by a single point in one of the finest compound finals in the circuit's history.
- 🥈 Silver: Mike Schloesser (Netherlands) — The world number one, who had produced the performance of the season at Nîmes with five consecutive 150s, was narrowly edged in the final by a point. An extraordinary season nonetheless for Mister Perfect.
- 🥉 Bronze: Mathias Fullerton (Denmark) — The top seed entering the Finals and a dominant force throughout the season, Fullerton claimed bronze after a strong bronze medal match, continuing what was an outstanding 2024 indoor campaign.
Women's Compound — Roner Defends Her Crown
If the compound men's final was a nail-biter, the compound women's title match was the emotional centrepiece of the night. Twenty-two-year-old Elisa Roner (Italy) had entered the season as defending champion, but her road to the Vegas Finals had been far from straightforward — she had finished fifth at both Nîmes and the Vegas Shoot championship rounds, seeded only 10th for the Saturday night bracket. But Roner, drawing on the same composure and belief that had defined her shock win the previous year, rose through the bracket to set up a rematch with British world number one Ella Gibson.
In the gold medal match, it was a repeat of their 2023 final in every sense. Roner opened with a perfect first end of 30, seized the early advantage, and never let go. Gibson, having now lost two consecutive international circuit finals to the same opponent, put up a valiant effort but a shaky second end proved the difference. The final score of 148-146 was identical to their duel 12 months earlier. Roner became the first back-to-back winner of the Indoor World Series Finals since American Jesse Broadwater in the early 2010s.
"I'm feeling great. I wasn't shooting good these past days so I found my shooting today and I'm so happy," said Roner. "Every time we fight each other on the field, she's very good and I'm really happy with this match."
- 🥇 Gold: Elisa Roner (Italy) — Back-to-back Indoor World Series champion. The 22-year-old Italian, seeded 10th entering the Finals, defeated world number one Ella Gibson for the second consecutive year, 148-146, in a carbon copy of their 2023 final. One of the most impressive back-to-back title defences in the circuit's history.
- 🥈 Silver: Ella Gibson (Great Britain) — The world number one, having now finished runner-up at two consecutive Finals, remains the sport's most consistent compound women's performer over the course of a full season — but continues to be denied the top step by Roner in Vegas.
- 🥉 Bronze: Paige Pearce (USA) — The experienced American compound archer added another indoor medal to her collection, defeating Alejandra Usquiano (Colombia) in the bronze medal match.
Key Takeaways
- Brady Ellison's fourth Indoor World Series title — delivered with 12 consecutive perfect arrows in the final — was the defining performance of the recurve events, and a reminder of just how good the veteran American is when the moment demands his absolute best.
- Michelle Kroppen made history as the fourth German to claim the Indoor World Series title and the first German woman, defeating home favourite Kaufhold in five sets.
- Elisa Roner's back-to-back defence against Ella Gibson — same opponent, same score, same result — was the most remarkable storyline of the evening, cementing her place as the dominant force in compound women's archery on the indoor circuit.
- James Lutz edging Schloesser by a single point in the compound men's final — after Schloesser's historic Nîmes display — was one of the most compelling head-to-head matches in recent Indoor World Series history.
- The Southpoint era ends: with the Vegas Shoot confirmed to be moving to a new Las Vegas venue for 2025, this was the final time the Indoor World Series Finals would be hosted at the Southpoint Hotel and Casino — a venue synonymous with the sport's indoor history in North America.