Actualités

Re-inspired Jaatma avenges Chengdu Becerra loss to take gold at Shanghai 2026

09 mai 2026

Shanghai, China

Vrai nom:

Lisell Jaatma hugging her mum Maarika after winning the compound women gold at Shanghai 2026.

A re-invigorated Lisell Jaatma made no mistake in the compound women's final this time around as she put on a career-best performance to take gold at Shanghai — the second stage of the 2026 Hyundai World Cup.

Jaatma, 26, lost to all-time great Sara Lopez in last month's gold medal match at Puebla, 149-148, and shot brilliantly again across both individual matches on a pleasant but windy afternoon in China.

After coming through a gold-worthy 149-149 shootoff victory over the week's top seed Alexis Ruiz, the Estonian then defeated the very archer that beat her in the Chengdu 2025 World Games final, Andrea Becerra, 145-144, dropping nine 10s which, on a day where the wind seemed to increase as the session went on, was a brilliant score.

“I'm still speechless... like I have to think about what happened,” said a teary-eyed Jaatma, whose mother and coach Maarika was also emotional once her daughter's maiden World Cup gold was confirmed. “I was concentrating to do my own thing. It's just shoot good and we will see. Then the fourth end was where I shot two nines, then I got a little bit nervous and in the fifth end, I was like, ‘Okay, now we have to focus, just do three good shots and we will see.’”

“I think everybody wants to win, and never come back without gold... and I don't have any gold medals. I have silver, bronze, and I've been waiting for it for so long so it means a lot.”

“It's definitely a special one.”

It's special in more ways than one.

The top podium signifies a maiden win against world number one and champion Becerra, her second medal of the day after gaining bronze in the mixed team earlier with brother Robin, and a ticket to Saltillo - the location for the 2026 World Cup Final.

But more importantly, it cements that Jaatma's layoff last year was worth it.

Lisell Jaatma shooting during the compound women gold medal match at Shanghai 2026.

Following her third-round elimination at the Gwangju 2025 World Championships, Jaatma made an Instagram post saying that the 2025 outdoor season had been “tough”, and revealed she had been suffering from health issues throughout the year.

The 2024 Swiss Open Lausanne gold medallist therefore took six weeks off from archery, and did not feature in an international competition until the Nimes Archery Tournament in the January of 2026 - a four-month hiatus - to prioritise a full physical but, vitally, mental recovery.

“It means everything to have my mum and brother here. Last year was really hard for me so I'm really happy and I've been waiting for it.”

“I was burnt out, depressed and struggling with an eating disorder,” she explained when asked about her difficulties. “I basically didn't have energy to do anything and felt bad 24/7. I made a lot of changes, started working with different specialists and slowly got better.”

Gold medals often account for the greatest memories lived by athletes, but there are few greater feelings than concluding such a personal as well as sporting comeback like this.

For years, Lisell and her brother Robin, powered by parents and coaches Maarika and Erki, have brought one of Europe's smallest nations a whole host of international medals at both indoor and outdoor international events.

Given what happened last year, however, Lisell's triumph could very easily be the proudest moment of one of archery's most successful, tightly-knit families, the emotions at the end of today showing that sometimes there is more to the sport than simply shooting arrows.

The best families really do go through thick and thin, the Jaatmas are living proof of it.

Competition in Shanghai concludes with recurve finals on Sunday.