The next Archery qualifier to the Paris Olympics took place in Berlin, Germany, with the 2023 World Archery Championships (28 July-6 August 2023).
Five events take place in Archery: a Men’s and Women’s individual and team event, and a mixed team event. Qualifying a team allows all three in the team to enter in the individual event, otherwise one individiual per NOC is allowed. If at least one man and one woman qualifies from an NOC, then they will also have the maximum one place in the mixed team automatically.
In the team events, three of the eleven places (plus one host) are earned at the World Archery Championships. The British team consisted of 2022 U21 European champion Monty Orton, several time World Cup medal-winner Alex Wise, and 2020 Olympian James Woodgate. The trio put up 1932 (70 10s, 27 Xs) in the ranking round, earning a seed of 22: the top 24 advanced, with Bangladesh hitting 1930, the difference between success and failure.. Thus, their first round encounter would be against Japan. Japan took the first set 53-50, and the second was shared 52-52. GB levelled it up in the third set with a 57-56 win, and the fourth set was tied at 54-54 to set up a tiebreak. Japan won the tiebreak 27-26, giving them a 5-4 win and knocking out the Brits. The next chance for the British team will be the 2024 European Archery Championships (Essen, Germany, 3-5 May 2024).
The top three in the individual competition also got a guaranteed place. In the seeding round, the top 104 would advance: Woodgate was the top-seeded Brit with 652 (29 10s) enough for 47th, and 650 (23 10s) put Orton 56th. Wise was 108th with 630 (18 10s). The 632 of Portugal’s Luis Gonçalves was the cut-off, with Lithuanian Modestas Šliauteris eliminated for hitting 631. In the first round, Orton found himself against Chinese Taipei’s Tai Yu-husan. Orton took the first set 28-26, but after hitting four in the second set never truly recovered. He lost that set 23-20, and Tai took the next two 27-25 26-23 to round off a 6-2 win. Slovenian Den Habjan Malavasić was Woodgate’s opponent. Habjan Malasavić went up with 29-27 and 24-23 (a 5 costing Woodgate in Set 2), but Woodgate responded 29-28 25-23. In the final set, a 10 from the Slovenian gave him the win, 27-26, to take the tie 6-4.
On the women’s side, the team was made up of Penny Healey, who has some World Cup wins to her name, Louisa Piper, who has an impressive medal haul at youth level, and two-time European Games champion, and 2019 World bronze medalist Byrony Pitman. They hit 1925 in the seeding round, getting 9th: Canada’s 1830 was the cutoff. Thus, they faced Malaysia in the first round, and won in straight sets: 56-50, 54-51, 51-49 for a 6-0 win. Thus, it was France in the second round. The French took an early lead, 56-51, but GB fought back 57-55 52-50. France took the final set easily, 57-50, so it went to a tiebreak: which the French won 29-25 to win 5-4.
In the individual event, Healey was fifth with 664, Pitman eighth with 657. She won a shoot-off against Denmark’s Kristine Dantsrup Andersen for the rank, both shot nines put Pitman’s was slightly better. Piper was 90th with 604 (14 10s, 6 Xs): she was level with Moldova’s Alexandra Mîrca but lost a coin toss for 89th. The cutoff point was shot by Azerbaijan’s Yaylagul Ramazanova: 592 points with six tens. Pitman and Healey both got byes from the first round, but Piper had to face Taiwanese athlete Kuo Tzu Ying. Kuo went ahead with a 27-26 win, with the second set tied 26 apiece, and a four costing Kuo to give Piper the third set 23-21. Piper went ahead with a 27-24 win in the fourth set, and a 25-25 tie in the final set was enough to wrap up a 6-4 victory.
Pitman and Healey also had byes through the second round, while Piper faced Žana Pintarič of Slovenia. Piper took the first sets 23-22 24-21, but Pintarič’s generosity ended there, taking the next set 27-20 and the fourth 29-22. A three for Piper in the final set confirmed a 26-20 loss and a 6-4 departure from the tournament.
In the third round, Pitman faced Italy’s Chiara Rebagliati. A three from Pitman put her behind as she lost the first set 22-19, before some the Italian showed a clinical nature, taking the next sets 28-26 28-24 for to dispatch Pitman 6-0. For Healey, it was Ukrainian Veronika Marchenko, who started perfectly, taking the first set 30-27, and the next 25-21, helped by a four from Healey. But the Brit battled back with wins of 27-25 and 28-27, and held her nerve to win the final set 26-25 and take the match 6-4.
The fourth round had Healey as the sole Brit, against the American Casey Kaufhold. Healey roared into the lead with a 29-24, but Kaufhold equalised thanks to a 28-27 win in the second set. The American then closed the margin of error, and took the game 6-2 thanks to wins of 26-24 and 28-27.
In the hierarchy, the next competition for individual athletes is the 2023 European Games, which already took place. No man medalled for GB, but Penny Healey did win gold to guarantee a place. The next chance for Britain’s men will be the 2024 European Continental Qualifier Tournament (Essen, Germany, 3-5 May 2024).
GB Games 