Aberdeen’s Russell Walberg is still in high school, but he’s already a world champion.

Already a decorated archer, the upcoming senior at Central continues to be on target, recently adding another major accomplishment to his resume.

Walberg took home the World Archery Championship in the freestyle unlimited young adult division (ages 17-21), after a five-day tournament in Yankton last week, winning in a shootout.

Walberg has already won around 20 different archery tournaments, however, that’s not the main he reason he started shooting.

“I started when I was probably 7-years-old. I just wanted to be able to go bow hunting with my dad,” Walberg said. “That’s the only reason I started shooting.”

However, it didn’t take long for Walberg to get involved in competitive shooting.

“There’s a local youth league in town. A couple of the coaches up there kept telling my dad that I should shoot the state indoor tournament,” Walberg said. “Even though it was my first-year shooting, I was putting up some pretty solid numbers. And they said it’d be a good experience for me.”

Since then, Walberg hasn’t looked back and has competed in a multitude of tournaments, winning well more than a dozen of them.

Despite his list of accomplishments, Walberg doesn’t let his expectations get too high.

“Sometimes you can’t go into a tournament with the expectations to win, because you’re just going to let yourself down,” Walberg said. “You just have to go in with the mentality of, I’m just going to run my process. I’m just going to show my bow and wherever the arrows go, it’s going to be OK.”

Walberg believes that his carefree mindset has helped to relieve some of the pressure.

“A lot of people get really worked up and they envision the score they want. They put a score in their mind or a placement in their mind, and it’s just not quite achievable,” Walberg said. “I always say just shut the machine off and run. If you can tell yourself, I’m just going to shoot my bow and let the arrows go where they go, it’s a huge help because you’re taking pressure off yourself, which makes it easier to make better shots.”

Competing in the World Championships is not only demanding mentally, it also presents challenges physically.

During the competition, Walberg shot nearly 500 arrows and that can take a toll.

“It’s pretty brutal,” Walberg said. “It’s very taxing. On the third day, my arm completely cramped and I could hardly hold on to my bow. … The first two days were OK, but the last three were pretty hard, because you’re putting on a lot of miles on a lot of uneven ground, and just doing a lot of shooting. It’s very, very hard.”

After a long week of tough competition and dealilng with the physical and mental battles, Walberg couldn’t have been happier after he got the victory.

“I was very excited, obviously. I was just super excited,” Walberg said. “I couldn’t stop thinking about how blessed I am to have my family let me do this and the sponsors to back me. The first thing I did after I won was call my mom, then I called Bent Arrow Archery, the shop I shoot for and let them know, ‘Hey, I just won the worlds.’ I just have to say thank you because without people like that, it’s not feasible.”

While Walberg already possesses a long list of archery accomplishments, he is just getting started in the sport. He plans on shooting at the next level and even wants to go pro in the near future.

“I intend on going to college and shooting collegiate archery,” Walberg said. “I also plan on shooting in the Open Pro Division either during my time in college or for sure after I graduate from college. I’ll transition into the Open Pro Division, and I intend to just keep shooting and see how far it can take me.”

As Walberg gets closer to hitting that goal, the more eager he gets about what the future may hold.

“It’s amazing. Ever since I started shooting tournaments at about age 9, when I really got into tournaments, I started to pay attention to pro archery and that’s always been the goal for me,” Walberg said. “Since I was 9, I’m like, man, I want to be a pro man, I want to be a pro, and now I’m shooting on a level where it’s definitely a feasible thing.”