The event consisted of a double FITA round.

For each round, the archer shot 36 arrows at each of four distances—90, 50, 70, and 30 metres.

[1] The American men placed first and second in the first round, as Darrell Pace missed the Olympic record set by fellow American John Williams in 1972 by only 4 points.

In the second round, Pace improved his score by 43 points, smashing both the single and double FITA round records as he won gold.

Richard McKinney fell to fourth place in the final rankings, however, as Hiroshi Michinaga of Japan and Giancarlo Ferrari of Italy surged forward to grab the silver and bronze medals, respectively.