Actualités

Italy dominates unmarked qualifying at Yankton 2026 world field

24 septembre 2026

Yankton (USA)

Vrai nom:

Italian archers dominated the first day of qualification across recurve and barebow at the Yankton 2026 World Archery Field Championships, leading in all four senior categories.

Nearly 250 competitors took to the courses for 24 unmarked targets on Wednesday in South Dakota. They will shoot a different marked course of 24 targets on the second day, before eliminations and finals.

Matteo Borsani, the World Games and European field champion, topped the recurve men’s list with 363, while defending champion Roberta Di Francesco led the women’s field on 347 after 72 arrows each.

Great Britain’s Sophie Meering, the country’s only recurve woman, finished in second place on the first day, behind defending champion Di Francesco.

“The course was great. There was a lot of mud, some tricky shots,” Meering said. “The teal faces made it a lot more interesting in terms of gauging, as the lines are a lot fainter than on the black and yellow faces.”

“I feel I shot pretty good, it’s around my average for the year, so in the wet, with on/off rain and at a World Championship, I’m happy with it. I’m not going to do anything different tomorrow, just focus on myself, my process and one arrow at a time.”

Cinzia Noziglia, sometimes called the ‘Queen of Barebow’ after winning an astonishing series of titles at major events in the last decade, has perhaps not been as dominant in the last three years. But in Yankton she put in a strong performance to take the first-day lead against teammate Eleonora Strobbe on countback, after both scored 340 to lead the 23-strong women’s field.

In barebow men, Matteo Uggeri led on 361, a point ahead of teammate and World Games champion Simone Barbieri.

In the under-21 category, Great Britain’s Oliver Hicks scored 360 – just one point off the leading senior score – to lead his great rival and friend Ludvig Rohlin by 14 points at the halfway stage.

It was a slightly different story in compound.

It was perhaps not a big surprise to see Austria’s Nico Wiener, reigning World Cup Final champion, former target world champion and a multiple world champion in field and 3D competition, top the men’s compound field with 414, six points ahead of Italy’s Michea Godano.

In the women’s event, Amanda Mlinaric, a silver medallist at the 2024 World Archery Field Championships in Lac La Biche, led Great Britain’s Ella Gibson, the bronze medallist that year. The winner in 2024, Paige Pearce, finished in third spot after the first day.

The competition continues with marked distances for all competitors on Thursday, before a cut to the top 24s and eliminations.