Illaria Knibb wants to be the “face of barebow” – and Plovdiv is just the start

She may prefer shooting outdoors, but Illaria Knibb is leading Great Britain’s barebow charge at next week’s European Indoor Archery Championships.

The simplest form of the modern bow setup is experiencing a surge in popularity, particularly in Knibb’s home country, where barebow is increasingly as common in clubs as the traditionally dominant recurve and compound – sometimes even more so.

During stages of Archery GB’s 2025 National Tour, participation numbers in barebow often matched compound. At last year’s circuit finals, YouTube viewing figures showed the barebow men’s final was the most watched, with barebow women ranking second.

“It’s picked up a lot recently,” said Knibb, who began her archery journey in a children’s club during a family holiday in Fuerteventura, Spain. “I don’t really know why it isn’t more popular. I’m biased – I think it’s the best category – but it’s recognition; recurve has the Olympics, compound has big names like Ella Gibson and Mike Schloesser.”

“Barebow has phenomenal archers too, but we don’t get enough exposure for people to watch.”

When Knibb joined her first serious club in Great Britain, it was the lack of numbers in the category that attracted her to compete in it.

At the University of Bristol, the 24-year-old began with recurve but struggled with the sight, while qualification scores for the British University Sports Championships were significantly higher. She was advised to try barebow – and hasn’t looked back since.

On only her second appearance at the tournament – after finishing seventh in 2024 – Knibb won the British Indoor Championships in December and placed second at the prestigious Kings of Archery Series this indoor season out of 47 competitors.

Great Britain’s barebow archers are currently self-funded, meaning Knibb’s trip to Bulgaria was not guaranteed despite her selection.

However, confidence from her second-place finish at the Kings of Archery Series and victory at the national indoor championships, along with a highly successful GoFundMe campaign widely shared by her employer Network Rail, helped secure her participation at one of the biggest indoor tournaments of the season.

Knibb said encouragement from a friend after her Kings of Archery result helped shift her mindset heading into the national championships.

She explained that something “just clicked” during the event, as she progressed through difficult head-to-head matches, including one against a 14-year-old opponent that required consistently high scoring.

“Then everything just aligned. The shooting felt good, people were supportive, and somehow I made it through and won,” she said.

Knibb acknowledged the financial challenge of competing internationally but said she felt compelled to seize the opportunity while the discipline continues to grow.

“If the competition gets tougher, I’ll regret it if I don’t go now,” she added.

As is often the case for elite athletes, archery means more to Knibb than simply competition.

While studying evolution and palaeontology at university, the British indoor champion experienced depression. With Bristol more than 140 miles from her hometown of Kettering during the pandemic, returning home was difficult, further deepening what she described as a “dark time”.

Rediscovering archery – something she had first enjoyed on holiday – became a source of stability and purpose. The sport, its community and its empowerment became, as she described it, “the light” at the end of a dark tunnel.

“It really helped me. I don’t think I’d be here without archery and the people I met through it because throughout university, archery was just that constant thing.”

Making the national team, however, is not the peak of Knibb’s ambitions.

Inspired by how five-time Hyundai Archery World Cup stage gold medallist and world number two Ella Gibson has helped raise the profile of compound, Knibb now hopes to do the same for barebow – with Plovdiv representing the first step.

Knibb said conversations with her coach, Terry Course at Clophill Archery Club, helped shape those ambitions. 

Initially targeting qualification for the national tour finals, she later identified a bigger goal: helping raise recognition and visibility for barebow and becoming one of the discipline’s leading ambassadors.

“I said [to him] I’d like to be the face of barebow. I want to get barebow out there and recognised and that’s sort of been our mission.”

Posting scores such as 491 out of 600 at the British Indoor Championships and 755 out of 900 at Kings of Archery supports that mission, but Knibb’s personal story may resonate just as strongly with aspiring barebow archers.

If Knibb maintains her form in Bulgaria next week, it would mark another significant step toward becoming the “face of barebow” she hopes to be.

Images courtesy of Illaria Knibb (1-2), Van Soest Fotografie (3) and Malcolm Rees (4).