Determination key to success for Indoor Series Champion Roner

Being crowned Indoor Archery World Series Champion was the breakthrough Elisa Roner had been waiting for.

The 21-year-old hit the headlines in early February when she beat reigning world number one Ella Gibson, 147-146, to claim the compound women’s title in Las Vegas. 

Roner exudes a fierce brand of single-minded determination and self-confidence, the same that saw her cling on to her early one-point lead over Gibson throughout the final four ends. 

“I was just focused on shooting 10s and not on what my opponent was doing,” said Roner. “I was not thinking about her, the fact she’s this amazing archer, just about myself.”

“I wanted to win so badly. Because this year in a few competitions in Italy I shot some pretty good scores and I’ve never been so consistent. I really wanted to show myself that I was able to win something more.”

Roner’s 68-year-old grandmother, Iose Fontana, used to shoot when she was younger and only gave up participating four years ago. 

It was Fontana that lit a fire inside Roner when she was aged just seven, and continues to coach her.

“I thought that maybe when my granny woke up, she would die when she heard the news,” joked Roner, who works part-time in a pizzeria.

“Sometimes she believes in me more than I do.”

And her granny is the only person who can tell Elisa what to do.

Roner hails from Rovereto, nestled in the Trentino region in Northern Italy, a place that has played a big part in shaping her personality.

“It’s not a quiet place,” Roner says of her birthplace. “It’s a small town but all my friends who come to Rovereto always say it’s dangerous and there’s bad people. I’m like, no that’s normal, because to me it is normal.”

She knows where to go, where to find friends or find people that can help her. It’s a place where everybody knows everybody, and everybody knows what she has achieved. 

Every time she goes to work there are always locals who come and say: ‘Where’s the champion? Come out! Well done! Congratulations!’

Roner, who speaks German, English and Italian, started studying Russian at university before dropping out after three months to fund her travels in the sport. 

It was a natural decision for someone who above all else wants to be her own person and practice the sport she loves.

Outdoor season preparations are now intensifying for the world number 15, with a domestic selection shoot just around the corner and the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Antalya and Shanghai in April and May. 

“I have a goal: I want to win as much as possible. I’d like to give my family everything they need,” said Roner. 

“I put my everything into archery, because when you understand you have no other way out, you put yourself completely into one thing.”

Elisa is doing that with archery and she wants to do that for her life.

It’s starting to pay off and she likes that she’s able to do that.