Casey Kaufhold, US star women's archer, driven by appetite to follow Olympic greatness

PARIS — Casey Kaufhold’s ambition far exceeds her sport’s following in the United States.

She wants to be to archery what Simone Biles has been for gymnastics or Michael Phelps to swimming. She’s said that before, and the 20-year-old lefty from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, isn’t backing down from such a bold statement now. Not when she’s close, having arrived at the Paris Games as the world’s No. 1 and one of the favorites to claim an Olympic gold medal that has eluded American female archers for 48 years.

"My goal is to inspire others, and that's what those athletes do," said Kaufhold, referencing Biles and Phelps. "My goal is to just be a good representation of the sport.

"Of course, winning is part of that."

Get Olympics updates in your texts! Join USA TODAY Sports' WhatsApp Channel

Meet Team USA: See which athletes made the U.S. Olympic team and where they are from

And a difficult part, too. How much? In this sport, it'd be groundbreaking.

The pecking order in women's archery has been cemented for decades. For this Olympics, like many that preceded it, the storyline is obvious: Who out there might actually be able to beat the South Koreans? Of the past 10 individual gold medalists in women's archery, nine were from South Korea. Of nine Olympic women's team competitions, South Korea won all nine.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

And while Thursday’s preliminary ranking round at Les Invalides didn’t damper medal hopes for Kaufhold, it did even less to dissuade anyone from thinking the sport’s power balance was about to shift away from South Korea.

While Kaufhold was shooting a respectable 672 (out of 720) to finish fourth among 64 archers, barely a dozen spots to her left, South Korea’s archers were crushing it.

Lim Si-hyeon (694) set a new world record. Right behind her: teammate Nam Su-hyeon (688). The top two Koreans finished 15 points clear of the rest of the field after 72 arrows. Scores won't carry over into the next round, but nonetheless …

"It was amazing," Kaufhold said. "The conditions today made for some really good shooting. What Lim shot is very impressive. It just sets new heights for everybody."

Kaufhold’s preliminary score means she'll be the No. 4 overall seed in a single-elimination, head-to-head March Madness-like bracket that makes archery one of the more compelling sports to watch in any Olympics. She’ll face No. 61 – Fatoumata Sylla of Guinea – in the opening round next Thursday.

Among Kaufhold’s USA teammates, Catalina Gnoriega (648) will be the No. 38 seed and Jennifer Mucino (625) will be No. 57. Collectively, the U.S. women’s team ranked eighth of 12 countries Thursday, which was disappointing because it meant the No. 8 seed in Sunday’s team competition. And as the No. 8 seed, the Americans would draw the top seed in the quarterfinals: South Korea.

Even if such a pairing spells doom for the U.S. women's team, Kaufhold could still bring home two medals. She’ll partner with USA’s Brady Ellison – one of the world’s best on the men’s side – for the mixed competition. And of course, she’s expected to make a run in the individual bracket.

For that big-picture goal, Thursday wasn't a bad start.

"Qualifying fourth is a good place to be," USA coach Chris Webster said. "It's not quite what she wanted, because obviously, she wants to shoot better than everybody. But it's still a very respectable score to start off the Games."

Kaufhold has a big challenge ahead of her, but she’ll have support. She’s expecting a 12-person contingent of friends and family to land in Paris on Friday morning.

And despite her young age, she isn’t in her first Olympics, having competed in 2021 in Tokyo.

So she knows better what to expect this time, and she’s embracing it. Which matters in a sport where "The biggest thing that separates archers is just the mental game," she said.

"You feel pressure unless you don't have a pulse," Kaufhold said. "Something like this, it's the Olympic Games. Everybody is going to feel a little bit of something. But to me, when I feel pressure, it's not because it's a bad thing. To me, pressure is excitement. It means I'm excited. I'm ready to go. I want to get in that field and shoot. So when I feel pressure, it means it's a good thing."

Kaufhold sounds confident. And on Thursday, she was very good.

If there was a resounding theme, however, to the opening act for women's archery at the Paris Olympics, it was that she’ll need to be great.

Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@gannett.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.