Men’s Individual
Mete Gazoz (Turkey) will enter this tournament as the reigning Olympic and World champion. He continually performs in the biggest events, having finished third in the World Cup Finals in both 2021 and 2022. He also finished fourth in the 2021 World Championship and third in the 2022 European Championship. It was Mauro Nespoli (Italy) who he beat for gold at Tokyo. His best run individually at a World Championship came in 2019 when he finished fourth but he has impressed in World Cup events, winning in 2023 in Medellin and finishing third in the final. Brady Ellison (United States) won Olympic bronze in 2016 before losing in the quarter-finals in Tokyo. He was the 2019 world champion but his best recent year was 2021 when he won bronze, came second in the World Cup final and won two World Cup events. South Korea always have a strong hand and Kim Woo-jin (South Korea) has been their best archer over the last few years. He led the qualification stage of the World Championships. He was the world champion in 2021 and has won three World Cup Finals as well as the Gwangju and Medellin events in 2022 and Paris in 2023. Kim Je-deok (South Korea) reached the quarter-finals at the last two world championships and he led the Tokyo Olympic ranking round. Compatriot Lee Woo-Seok (South Korea) has twice been runner-up in the World Cup Final including in 2023. He was also a bronze medalist in the 2021 Asian Championship. Baatarkhuyagiin Otgonbold (Mongolia) won the 2023 Asian Games ahead of Qi Xiangshuo (China). Tang Chih-chun (Taiwan) was runner-up at the 2023 Asian Championships after finishing fourth in Tokyo. Jean-Charles Valladont (France) won silver at the 2016 Olympics. He has started to look strong recently, finishing third in the 2024 European Championship and was runner-up in 2023 in Antalya. Dhiraj Bommadevara (India) came third in Antalya in 2023 and 2024. Dan Olaru (Moldova) won the 2023 Antalya World Cup event and also reached the semi-finals of the 2023 European Games. It was Florian Unruh (Germany) who won the European Games after reaching the Tokyo Olympics quarter-final and finishing second in the 2022 European Championships. Marcus D’Almeida (Brazil) has medalled at the last two world championships and won World Cup events in 2022 and 2023 including the World Cup Final in 2023. Steve Wiljer (Netherlands) won bronze in the 2017 World Championship. He was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the 2023 tournament by Eric Peters (Canada) who went on to win silver. In the semi-final, he beat Arif Dwi Pangestu (Indonesia) who is only 20. Baptsite Addis (France) is only 17 and was the semi finalist at the 2024 European Championship. Mathias Grande (Mexico) won at the 2024 Pan-American Championship.
As always, a lot of this will come down to who can hold their nerve best in the elimination rounds. The South Koreans so often put up big scores in qualifying and I’d expect Woo-jin to be their number one ahead of Woo-seok. Gazoz has developed an aura around him as the man for the big occasion but there has only been two repeat medalists in the last forty years which is also a negative for Ellison, Nespoli and Valladont. D’Almeida seems to always make his way to the deep end of tournaments whilst Unruh and Wijler have also shown that they have an ability to get results. I think it is time for D’Almedia to get a gold medal. Behind him, I think the other medals comes down to Gazoz or the Korean pair.
🥇Marcus D’Almeida 🇧🇷
🥈Kim Woo-jin 🇰🇷
🥉Mete Gazoz 🇹🇷
Men’s Team
South Korea has won five of the last six Olympic competitions. They have the most strength in depth and have also won both World Championships in this cycle after only finishing third in the previous cycle. They also won three World Cup events in 2022 and three in 2023. China won the first World Cup event in 2023 and was the last non-Korean world champion when winning in 2019. Taiwan were the runners up at the Tokyo Olympics and finished third in the 2021 World Championship. Italy have dominated European competition, winning the 2022 European Championships and 2023 European Games. It was Spain that they defeated to win both of those tournaments. Turkey proved itself to be another European contender, when led by Gazoz they made the World Championship final in 2023. Japan are nearly always contending and is the reigning bronze medalist at the Olympic and World Championships whilst finishing fourth in 2021. France won the 2024 European Championship but the last time they medalled in a world event, was a silver in the 2017 World Championship. Great Britain has made semi-finals at three of the last four major tournaments. Colombia won at the 2024 Pan-American Championship with Mexico winning silver at the 2023 Pan-American Games. Kazakhstan won silver at the 2023 Asian Championships.
South Korea should win this. They have three of the top ten archers who will compete and it is hard to see how they lose. Based on their dominance, a lot will also depend on the draw. Taiwan always seems to play above their talent and they will expect to be in the medal shakeup. The United States and France probably have the most talent whilst Italy are also consistent performers and Turkey has Gazoz who has been a cheat code in recent years. I don’t think he can take them to an Olympic medal here though. I will stick with teams who tend to perform well in this event and think Italy beat France in the third-place playoff.
🥇South Korea 🇰🇷
🥈Taiwan 🇹🇼
🥉Italy 🇮🇹
Women’s Individual
Nine of the last ten titles, including the last three have gone to South Korean athletes. As always, a big part of the competition will be which Korean athletes are selected. They have more than three capable contenders. Lim Si-hyeon (South Korea) was arguably the form archer of 2023 winning World Cup events in Shanghai and Medellin before making the World Championship quarter-finals. The other two are Jeon Hun-young (South Korea) and Nam Su-hyeon (South Korea), neither of whom has experienced major success. Marie Horackova (Czech Republic) is the current world champion. In the final, she beat Alejandra Valencia (Mexico) who has been one of the more consistent archers over the last few years. She led the qualification round in the World Championships, after being fourth in the same round of the Tokyo Olympics. She lost in the quarter-final that time round before fourth place in the 2021 World Championship. Satsuki Noda (Japan) was the bronze medalist in 2023 after beating Casey Kaufhold (United States) who won silver in 2021. She also won the Paris World Cup event in 2023. Also performing well in 2023 was Penny Healey (Great Britain). The young Brit won at the European Championships as well as the World Cup event in Antalya. Teammate Bryony Pittman (Great Britain) was arguably better in 2022 as she won the World Cup event in Medellin. Deepika Kumari (India) won two events in 2021 and in 2024, won in Shanghai. Li Jiaman (China) came third in Shanghai and also at the continental championships in 2023. Katherina Bauer (Germany) was European Champion in 2024 after winning bronze in 2022. Elia Canales (Spain) has been runner-up at the last two European Championships. Lisa Barbelin (France) won bronze in 2024 and also had a second in the 2023 World Cup event in Paris. Michelle Kroppen (Germany) was a silver medalist at the 2022 European Championship. She also came fourth in the 2019 World Championship and came third in the 2021 World Cup Final.
Korea has such a strong record here but Si-hyeon is the only one with top-level competition experience. The strength of the Korean team means the other pair will surely be feared but predicting them to win a medal feels like a stretch. Kaufield and Valencia have both been consistent performers on the circuit and in major championships. Kaufield has performed well in Paris, as has Barbelin who will have the home crowd backing her. Kumari has shown glimpses of finding her previous form. Horackova is an obvious danger as a world champion. Bauer and Healey have both impressed in continental tournaments but you wonder if either will take the next step.
🥇Alejandra Valencia 🇲🇽
🥈Lim Si-hyeon 🇰🇷
🥉Katherina Bauer 🇩🇪
Women’s Team
This event has always gone to South Korea. As referenced in the individual section, they do have great strength in depth but with only three archers in teams, it isn’t as much of an advantage as it maybe once was. They won World Championships in 2017 and 2021 as well as tending to dominate the World Cup events. Germany won the 2023 World Title, improving on their bronze from the Tokyo Olympics and a 2022 European Championship. Great Britainwas the European Games winner in 2023 and also won a World Cup event in Antalya in 2022. France was second in both the European Games and the 2023 World Championship, having won a bronze in 2021. Mexico also has a strong recent record, winning bronze in 2023 after taking silvers in 2017 and 2021. Taiwan was perhaps stronger for the last Olympic cycle. They were 2019 world champions, having finished third in 2017 and had also a World Cup event in 2017, 2018 and 2019. They did win in Paris in 2022, before winning silver in 2023. In 2023, China was runner-up at the Asian Games and Asian Championships. The United States won the 2023 Pan-American Games. The Netherlands were runners-up in the 2024 European Championship and also finished fourth in the 2023 World Championship. Malaysia will also be hoping to compete.
The inexperience of the Korean team makes me doubt them. They have not proven to be unbeatable but I have to edge to them. France and Germany have performed well in major championships and the German squad looks like one of the stronger in the competition. Mexico and the United States have a star who will be hoping to drag the team to the podium. Britain has two stars who will push them towards the podium. China has stronger depth. Ultimately I think Korea take the gold ahead of Germany. As referenced the draw will make a difference depending on who ends up in the same section as Korea. I edge to France to win bronze ahead of Great Britain and Mexico.
🥇South Korea 🇰🇷
🥈Germany 🇩🇪
🥉France 🇫🇷
Mixed Team
This event debuted at the Olympics in Tokyo and was won by South Korea. They have also won the last four world titles. In 2023, they beat Germany in the final who also finished second in 2017. They finished second in the 2022 European Championship and third in the 2023 European Games before winning the 2024 European Championship. The Netherlands won the European Championship as part of a strong run that included silver at the Olympics and the 2019 World Championship. Spain was the European Games winner and also placed in the 2023 Antalya World Cup event. Turkey won bronze in the 2021 World Championship, improving on their Olympic fourth. In 2023, it was Italy who took bronze, repeating their result from 2019. The United States has always impressed in the World Cup events but struggled to go past the quarter-finals in the World Championships. Mexico has often been foiled at that stage in the World Championship but did win bronze in Tokyo. Great Britain won World Championship bronze in 2017 and also won silver at the 2024 European Championship. Ukraine was the 2023 silver medalist. Brazil was the silver medalist at the 2023 Pan-American Games and won the 2024 Pan-American Championships. China were runners up at the 2023 Asian Championship and had two podium places in the World Cup events. Japan came third and was runners-up at the 2023 Asian Games. In the last four World Championships, they have two quarter-finals and two fourth-place finishers. Taiwan has finished fourth in two of the last three and lost in the quarter-final the other time. They also had two seconds in World Cup events and a third in 2023. France has a strong team despite not performing too impressively in the last couple of years.
Again, you have to look towards the Koreans who have won all of the recent major tournaments and will have such a strong pairing. Behind them, Germany has been good over recent years and has two strong competitors. The Netherlands are another with strong form and a good team. Great Britain, Mexico, Turkey and the United States all suffer from having one team member who is quite a bit stronger than the other. Spain would be another contender whilst Taiwan always seem to punch above their collective weight.
🥇South Korea 🇰🇷
🥈Germany 🇩🇪
🥉Taiwan 🇹🇼
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