Nimes surprise Alexandre Desemery earns France call-up for European Indoors at 47

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“Before, I flew under the radar. Now? People are watching,” said recurve men archer Alexandre Desemery.

If there were ever a perfect example of the advantages of surprise, the Frenchman would be it.

Desemery made the remark following a career-best performance at the Nimes Archery Tournament, where the 47-year-old – yes, 47 – reached the bronze medal match and found himself shooting against new world number one Marcus D’Almeida.

Although his age suggests he is not far from eligibility for the 50+ category, Desemery proved to himself – and a stunned crowd inside Le Parnasse Hall – that it need not matter just yet.

He lost 7-3 to D’Almeida in the bronze medal match, having earlier fallen 6-4 to eventual silver medallist Wei Chun-Heng in the semifinals. But it was the route he took to that stage which truly caught attention.

Along the way, Desemery defeated Paris 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup German men’s team gold medallist Moritz Wieser 6-4, edged new Lancaster Archery Classic champion Nicholas D’Amour 6-5, and produced the standout result of the event with a 7-3 victory over six-time Olympian Brady Ellison.

“Two years ago? No, definitely not,” Desemery said when asked whether he had envisaged such an outcome after his first international appearance at the 2024 Vegas Shoot.

“I always knew I had some good potential in me. I felt it when I was a kid shooting, and I always regretted a little bit not pushing further as a teenager and young adult to see how far I could go. But that’s life.”

What makes the Nimes result even more staggering is that recurve was not always Desemery’s discipline.

After completing his beginners’ course with a recurve bow at the age of 11, he transitioned to compound. But following university, his engineering career – which took him permanently to Canada – significantly reduced his training volume, and he eventually sold his PSE Mach 5 compound bow.

“Archery stayed in the back of my mind, but life got in the way,” he explained. “I joined a club near Vancouver and restarted with recurve.”

“After a couple of arrows, it felt natural. I bought my first recurve setup, made mistakes with accessories, and trained casually.”

That changed after he met coach Linda Price, who helped introduce greater structure to his training. The result was a focused build-up towards the 2024 Vegas Shoot – the start of a more serious second chapter.

Improved planning led Desemery to enter a run of international indoor events, including the 2024 Swiss Open, 2025 Great Chicago Open, 2025 Vegas Shoot and Indoor World Series Finals, and successive appearances at Nîmes in 2025 and 2026.

The key to improving at elite level while avoiding injury, he revealed, has been approaching preparation like a “marathon”.

“Build volume, recover, repeat – then taper.”

If he increases arrow volume one week, recovery sessions increase accordingly. Desemery is careful not to overdo it, having learned that lesson in November when a “purple patch” in scoring led him to push too far.

After shooting a 596 personal best in training this season, and now back living in France after more than 20 years in Canada, returning to Nimes for another attempt felt like the logical next step – a decision emphatically vindicated.

His performance has now earned him selection to represent France at the European Indoor Archery Championships in Plovdiv next month.

Desemery will be France’s sole recurve men’s representative in Bulgaria, joining Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist Lisa Barbelin in the squad.

“It’s a childhood dream,” he said. “The key thing was that I had a plan. From packing my bow to travelling, warm-up, arrow count, meals – everything.”

“At competitions like this, there are so many distractions. Without a plan, it’s easy to get lost. Plans can change, and you have to accept that. That helped a lot because there was no guessing.”

“Was it a surprise? Yes – but it was planned and prepared.”

Learning to manage mental fatigue is the next challenge the Parisian must be ready for in Plovdiv.

It is what cost him most in Nimes, dealing with pressure against Wieser, then the “emotionally draining” encounter against Ellison, and the difficulty of the shoot-off versus D’Amour, which left Desemery “running on fumes” by the time he met Wei and D’Almeida.

Still, if there is anything to go by Desemery’s determination over the past three and a half years, it is that he will do what it takes to address the issue.

At least now, he has practical experience deep into elite competition, and he will be hoping to have a little more fuel in the tank should he produce a similar run in Bulgaria.

To Desemery, Nîmes was never a shock. All top archers must overcome self-doubt to reach the highest level, and he believes he did that through diligent preparation across the indoor season.

The tables have turned for him heading into Plovdiv, however.

The element of surprise is no longer there, and he sensed a shift in how archers and fans viewed him during his match against Ellison when he took the lead.

He was an unknown quantity before he stepped foot in Le Parnasse Hall, but now everyone will be aware next month and may feel a cold, nervy sweat should they match against him, knowing that Alexandre Desemery is far from finished and very much capable of challenging at the highest level.

“Before it was ‘just an old guy chasing a dream.’ Now it’s different,” he concluded.