Home hero Unruh not feeling extra expectations

Florian Unruh insists nothing can add to the immense pressure of shooting at the Hyundai World Archery Championships, not even competing in front of a home crowd.

The German archer qualified 13th in the recurve men’s competition at the 2023 Championships on Tuesday morning, as competitors battled the wind and rain in Berlin.

The world number two was the highest ranked home athlete in the men’s competition on a successful morning for his compatriots, with Moritz Wieser finishing 23rd and Maximilian Weckmueller 29th to seal a fourth seed in the men’s team competition.

It was also a strong morning for the women’s team, who secured a third-placed finish as Michelle Kroppen and Katharina Bauer finished 12th and 13th respectively, with Charline Schwarz 26th.

It was a pleasant start to the championships in Berlin for the home archers, but Unruh was adamant he felt no extra expectation from the home crowd.

“The pressure doesn’t come from the venue, it comes from the fact that it is the World Championships,” he said.

“It was not that different. I have had three World Cups already on this field, so it was pretty familiar.”

“It is the World Championships, if there are some people, I know behind me that’s okay, but it’s not any different.”

Unruh, who hails from Rendsburg in the north of the country, arrived in Berlin in good form, with the number two ranking and a gold medal at the 2023 European Games in Krakow at the end of June.

The 30-year-old also claimed the 2022 World Archery Field Championships title in Yankton in October 2022, to cap a successful year that also yielded World Games gold and European Championships silver.

And Unruh revealed he is confident of beating any archer on his day, though was ambivalent about his opening performance in Berlin.

“I had a few really good weeks in Krakow,” he reflected. “It is always good to shoot well, it could have been a little better on the day but everything is working good enough.”

“I know that I can win all matches, it doesn’t matter who I am shooting against, I can win. But it is so tight in recurve, it is nearly 50-50 if you win or lose, so everything can happen.”

“For the world ranking, you have both field and indoors, so it is difficult to say I have to get second here because I am world number two."

“I know that I can win matches, and I am maybe even better than I am in qualification.”

“This morning was okay; it can always be better and that’s normal. The first round was not that good, I made some bad decisions with the wind and the end was pretty bad."

“The second I got the same score but it was more difficult, so that was pretty good, 13th place is okay. Team fourth place is really good so I think it is more good than bad."

“The rain affects everything; I was dropping so low. At least you can see the wind with the rain but I don’t like shooting in the rain, though I think I am okay with it."

“We can adjust, and we now know the wind even better.”

Unruh walks away from the opening day of competition with room to improve and will return for the team event on Wednesday with the added incentive of Olympic quota spots on the line.

“It would be perfect to qualify here,” he added. “It would get a lot off of our backs, so it would be nice but it is more difficult than in the past.”

“It is the same as in the individual, we can win a medal but on the other hand there are many good teams so it will be difficult.”

And while world medals and Olympic quota spots may be Unruh’s primary focus for the next week, the 30-year-old is hopeful the hosting of a major archery event in Germany can re-energise the sport in his home country.

“I really hope that the World Championships can get more people involved and get things moving again in Germany,” he said. “After Covid, it got hit a little and we had fewer archers, but I hope many are saying they will shoot again after watching this.”