Kang Chae-young

Kang Chae-young was born on June 8, 1996, in Ulsan, South Korea. She began her archery career in 2005, displaying early talent in the sport. Her international debut came in 2015 at the Archery World Cup stage in Shanghai, where she secured individual, mixed team, and team gold medals, becoming only the fifth archer to achieve this triple gold feat. This early success marked the beginning of a distinguished career during which she has earned numerous accolades and set significant records.

A key milestone in her career was at the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei, Taiwan, where she earned gold medals in both the women’s individual recurve and women’s team recurve events. The same year, she won gold in both team and mixed team events at the World Archery Championships in Mexico City. In 2019, at the Hyundai World Archery Championships in ’s-Hertogenbosch, she became the first woman to break 690 points in the 72-arrow 70-meter qualifying round, achieving a score of 691. She further demonstrated her dominance by winning the individual gold medal at the 2019 Archery World Cup Final in Moscow, her first World Cup Final victory, and securing golds in all three categories (individual, team, mixed team) at the 2019 Asian Archery Championships held in Bangkok, Thailand. Her consistent performance led to her being named the 2019 World Archery Athlete of the Year in the recurve women’s category.

Kang reached the pinnacle of her sport at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics (held in 2021), where she won a gold medal as part of the South Korean women’s team. Building on this Olympic success, she also secured a gold medal in the women’s team recurve event at the 2021 World Archery Championships in Yankton, United States. With a career win rate of 80% out of 131 matches, Kang Chaeyoung is recognized as one of the best archers of her generation, earning her the nickname ‘the Destroyer’ from some in the press.