Actualités

De Laat delivers as Dutch edge shoot-offs into mixed team final

06 septembre 2025

Gwangju, Korea

Vrai nom:

Sanne De Laat holding bow, Mike Schloesser smiling after winning shoot off against Mexico.

The Netherlands reached the compound mixed team gold medal match by the skin of their teeth, beating both the USA and Mexico in shoot-offs at the Gwangju 2025 Hyundai World Archery Championships.

Sanne de Laat and Mike Schloesser edged Olivia Dean and Curtis Broadnax in the second round, winning 20-19 after a 156-156 tie.

Then in a thrilling semifinal against Andrea Becerra and Sebastian Garcia, the teams tied again on 158. De Laat dropped the winning 10X, deemed closer by just a couple of millimetres than either of the Mexican duo’s arrows.

“This one was really close,” said a beaming but relieved De Laat. “Mike always starts off because he has a lot better knowledge of wind and stuff.”

“If he shoots and it’s going where he goes, then he knows to say to me either keep left or keep right – and this time, we just went straight to the middle.”

“He took a bit of time but he almost hit the X[-ring]. I had 15 seconds left, but I’m here to shoot a 10 in 15 seconds – and it happened. We got it, so that was amazing.”

The 30-year-old is ranked just 72nd in the compound women’s world ranking – but that is more a reflection of her limited appearances than her ability.

She has proven herself an elite-level competitor when she does compete, and when paired with men’s world number one Schloesser, the Dutch become a formidable mixed team.

That’s vital in the current Olympic cycle, with the event set to debut at the LA28 Games.

To put De Laat’s effectiveness into perspective: she has entered just three outdoor international events in the past 25 months – and won bronze at Paris 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup, gold at the Essen 2024 European Archery Championships and gold again at the Madrid 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup.

The same Dutch duo now has a 100% medal record together over the past two years – and could secure a third title in four appearances. They have guaranteed themselves another spot on the big stage, with the final set for Sunday at Gwangju’s iconic 5.18 Democracy Square.

“The conditions were very sticky – but also very slippery release-wise. But just like I said in Madrid, it feels like we’re a great team,” said European gold medallist De Laat. “I hope we can get a repeat of Madrid, but we’ll see.”

“It can go either way because all the teams are really high level at the moment – but we’re definitely going to try our hardest.”

Awaiting them is a clash of consistency versus quality against India’s Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Rishabh Yadav.

The Indians broke the 144-arrow world record in Shanghai earlier this year, then won gold in Central Florida and bronze in Madrid to rise to world number one.

Yadav and Vennam dropped just six nines across their three matches today and shot a perfect 160 (with seven 10Xs) against Germany in the second round before defeating Chinese Taipei, 157-155, in the semifinals. The Taipei duo – Huang I-Jou and Chang Cheng Wei – had earlier eliminated hosts Korea.

This will be only the second time India compete for a compound mixed team medal at a World Archery Championships, following silver in Yankton in 2021 when Vennam partnered Abhishek Verma.

But just as with the Dutch, India’s strength lies in its anchor.

“I think it would be a bit biased to say we belong on the same level, but she’s had many partners in the past,” said 23-year-old Yadav of Vennam. “With her experience I’m able to learn more, and as a junior I really learned a lot from her.”

“She knows how to make the wind calls so it really helps me – and I’m able to pull it off as she guides.”

Yadav, the Chengdu 2025 World Games bronze medallist, will be the busiest archer in Gwangju tomorrow – competing in the mixed team, men’s team and individual finals.

Alongside Aman Saini and Prathamesh Bhalchandra Fuge, India will contest the country’s first-ever men’s team medal match at a World Archery Championships – remarkable given the depth of talent at national trials every year.

Fuge, who missed the first half of the international season, only returned in time for Madrid and Gwangju – a testament to the self-belief of the Kamnik 2025 Veronica’s Cup winner.

“In the start of the year, I was working on my shooting, so that’s why I was not in the team,” said Fuge. “But right now I am in the team, so I’m really happy.”

Their opponents will be France, featuring men’s individual top seed Nicolas Girard alongside Jean Philippe Boulch and François Dubois. It is France’s first men’s team final since 1995 – the year compound was first included at a World Championships, when the French team won gold.

Mexico battled their way into the women’s team final, surviving two shoot-offs (against France and Kazakhstan) and a one-point match with Denmark. Becerra, Mariana Bernal and Adriana Castillo will face the USA, with Alexis Ruiz the only member of the 2019 world silver-medal-winning team to return.

The compound women’s team final will close Sunday’s programme, which also features the men’s team and mixed team medal matches live from 5.18 Democracy Square with a subscription to archery+.