Paige Pearce of Red Bluff once again asserted her dominance in the sport of archery this month, earning a gold medal at the World Archery Field Championships .
Her win in the weeklong tournament in Lac La Biche, Alberta, Canada, marked her third consecutive victory in the field championships, according to World Archery. She won the field championships ― which are held every other year ― in 2018, 2022 and 2024.
It was just one more win to add to a trophy case already brimming for the archer who has been aiming a bow since she was a toddler.
"It feels amazing. That's not something that really happens. I saw USA Archery posted that I was the first woman to ever do that ― win three consecutive World Field Championships," Pearce said.
"You know, as a little kid, you think about stuff like that, and it seems so unattainable. So then to grow up and actually make that happen, it's pretty wild. It doesn't really feel real," she said.
She doesn't limit herself to one type of shooting format using a compound bow, instead competing in several formats, including in indoor and outdoor target, 3-D shooting and field archery. She is also on the United States Archery Team.
She has earned a spot on the medals podium numerous times in all of the formats she shoots in. She estimated she has garnered well over 100 first-place wins in her professional career.
"I'm one of the few people in the whole world that shoots basically every format and wins at every format. And so that kind of makes what what I do harder, because I'm having to do everything, different goals, sometimes different equipment, different setup, depending on the archery format," Pearce said.
After her most recent win, she plans to take some time off to do some bow hunting in South Africa. But then a new indoor season archery competition begins in November, she said.
As a professional archer, she keeps a busy schedule, traveling around the country and the world.
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In addition to shooting World Archery governing body competitions, she also shoots with the National Field Archery Association, the Archery Shooters Association and USA Archery."Most people will focus on one thing and I do all of those organizations, full circuits as well as, like a bunch of the indoor World Series events, which is with World Archery as well. And then, and, you know, I win every year at all of them, which not many people do," she said.
Pearce credits a lot of her success to handling a bow before she was 2 years old with parents who also were avid bow shooters.
Much of her skill was honed at the Straight Arrow Bow Hunting shooting range off Swasey Drive just west of Redding, where the Straight Arrow Bow Hunters club holds its annual Western Classic Trail Shoot.
"I grew up shooting that, and that is all 3 to 101 yards, up hills, down hills, side hills. It's very similar to the field format. So it teaches you all of that technical stuff. And so I think growing up here made me a lot better than growing up maybe back east, where they shoot a lot of indoor, which is just 20 yards inside," Pearce said. (This story has been updated to change the video and add a photo gallery.)
Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @damonarthur_RS . Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today !
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Another gold medal win for Red Bluff world champion archer Paige Pearce
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