Archer Hugo Lobb has the Olympic Games in his range after being ranked eighth in the world for indoor archery.
At just 17 years old, the Riddells Creek teen has held 12 world records and has multiple gold and silver medals to his name.
The end of 2019 saw him compete in the World Archery Indoor Series, which took him Rome, Lancaster, Las Vegas and Sydney, where he secured gold in men’s category.
In 2020, he broke four of his own world records. These were: 50 metres Barebow Cadet Men, 50 metres Barebow Junior Men, 18 metres Barebow Cadet Men, and 18 metres Barebow Junior Men.
Most recently, Hugo was named winner of the Nicely Played Award in the Macedon Ranges Youth Awards.
Hugo said he has used down-time during the pandemic to sharpen his skills.
“Over the long months of COVID inactivity, archery gave me something to focus on and work towards,” he said.
He began archery as an eight-year-old at Bacchus Marsh after trialling several different sports.
“I didn’t really click with anything the way I did with archery,” he told the Express.
“For the majority of my archery career, I’ve been a self-propelled athlete: meaning, I don’t have a designated coach,” he said.
“I prefer to learn from multiple people rather than expecting one person to have all the answers. This has played a big part in shaping both my archery career and who I am today.”
Hugo competed in his first world event in Wagga, 2016, and took up some formal coaching.
It was a chance meeting with Australian Olympic bronze medallist archer Alec Potts that changed everything.
Alec encouraged Hugo to take on the Youth Nationals for Archery Australia.
“That’s when the trajectory really took off with national and international competition,” Hugo said.
“He helped me get my first decent bow and really got me started on my path of getting more into the heavier competition.
“Since then, I’ve had so much support. It’s been really good.”
From Australian Bowhunters Association members to his workplace (an archery store in Somerton), Hugo has had a community of people cheering him on.
But until now, Hugo has humbly kept news of most of his archery achievements within his sporting circles.
“I’m not too fussed about it (my world records and ranking) but it’s nice to see my hard work pay off,” he said.
The next achievement in Hugo’s sights is to represent Australia in the Olympic Games.
Getting into the Olympic team would be a dream. That’s the next goal,” he said.
“This year is going to be dedicated to training for that – getting qualification scores to get to the next step.
“It would be wonderful to get to Paris 2024 but, more likely, I’m aiming for the LA 2028.”
“They sometimes see it as a potential weapon,” Hugo said.
