Final fours: Who books first tickets to 2023 Archery World Cup Final?

The opening stage of the new Hyundai Archery World Cup season concludes this weekend in the arena on Konyaalti beach in Antalya.

We’re down to the final fours in Türkiye – and one archer in each category will become the first to book their spot for the 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final as a stage winner. During the archery+ show, which was streamed live on YouTube, Dutch Olympian Sjef van den Berg dropped his predictions ahead of the weekend.

“Normally this stage brings surprises because there is a sea climate with a lot of wind,” he said.

Find out who Sjef has backed below.

The compound final fours in Antalya are scheduled for Saturday afternoon with recurve to follow on Sunday.

Compound women

• Jyothi Surekha Vennam, India (1)
• Ella Gibson, Great Britain (4)
• Sara Lopez, Colombia (3)
• Elisa Roner, Italy (18)

Sjef says: “I think we have four archers in prime form here. Ella and Sara have shown last season why there are on top of the world, but looking at the results in the winter, Elisa won the Indoor World Series Finals.”

“Ella won the European Grand Prix in Lilleshall earlier this season, so she has shown she got through the winter well and is still in good shape. Jyothi equalled the world record earlier this week, and that’s not a small feat either.”

The favourite? Jyothi Surekha Vennam

Compound men

• Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki, Malaysia (8)
• Jozef Bosansky, Slovakia (12)
• Mike Schloesser, Netherlands (6)
• Sawyer Sullivan, USA (2)

Sjef says: “Both Mazuki and Bosansky had a great continental preseason with very high scores, but what stands out to me is that the Malaysian shot back-to-back 150s to get to the finals. It shows he knows how to shoot a final round, so it’s very impressive to me.”

“Mike is such a solid fixture on the finals field, that I think it will be experience versus not as experienced, in this case.”

“Sullivan has already put a [compound men’s team] world record on his name earlier this week, so he will have that going for him in the finals.”

The favourite? Sawyer Sullivan

Recurve women

• Penny Healey, Great Britain (24)
• An Qixuan, China (5)
• Elina Idensen, Germany (14)
• Laura van der Winkel, Netherlands (42)

Sjef says:  “Laura had the opportunity to shoot in the finals last year and walked away with silver, so I think this field really plays to her strength. She deals with the wind condition really well, and we’ll see if she manages to improve on her result from last year.”

“Penny has been on the up, she’s been shooting better and better, and she’s had a brilliant winter indoor season. But she’s shooting against someone who has a lot of experience on the World Cup field, so that’s difficult.”

The favourite? Penny Healey

Recurve men

• Jean-Charles Valladont, France (25)
• Ilfat Abdullin, Kazakhstan (28)
• Dan Olaru, Moldova (6)
• Dhiraj Bommadevara, India (15)

Sjef says: “Dhiraj is a new name, but he’s been shooting really high scores in the eliminations. Olaru, runner-up at the European Championships in 2018, and somebody to take into account if you wanna shoot finals. Abdullin, famously part of the team that beat Korea in Shanghai a couple of years ago.”

“And then we’ve got JC, who seemingly has found this new energy reserve that he can deliver. I think experience will prevail and I like his philosophy of trying to have fun. It’s something that I always aspire to do, so I hope he has the right philosophy here.”

The favourite? Jean-Charles Valladont

How to watch

Coverage of the first stage of the 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup is being shown worldwide by broadcast partners. Check local listings on CCTV (China), Claro Sports (Latin America), Eleven (Chinese Taipei), Eurosport (Europe), SpoTV (Korea and Southeast Asia), SETIndia (Indian subcontinent), Rai (Italy) and TRT (Turkey).

The event is being streamed live by the Olympic Channel in other territories.

Compound finals will take place on Saturday 22 April and recurve finals on Sunday 23 April 2023.