Getting back on top: Penny Healey

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT is presented by WIAWIS.

All archers go through peaks and troughs in form; and pulling yourself out of a shooting rut is one of the most difficult things to do.

But Great Britain’s Penny Healey managed it in spectacular fashion in Central Florida, winning the individual recurve women’s title after hitting the highest highs and the lowest lows in just two short years.

The lows were definitely at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“When I came home from Paris, I was really disappointed with myself, because I was shooting really well before, but I just had a little blip which threw me back about a thousand steps,” said the 20-year-old.

It was all the more frustrating because Healey had a breakthrough year in 2023, winning the European Games title aged just 18, as well as the individual title at the Antalya stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup, leading her to a nomination for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year that year.

But in Paris, Healey seeded 52nd of 64 in the individual ranking round, a performance she later called “shocking”. This low ranking forced her to come up against Korean Jeon Hunyoung in the first round – who had already taken team Olympic gold earlier that week. She beat Healey in straight sets, 6-0.

“I’ve already said to the psychologist: I’m not going to let the next Games be like these Games; I’m going to do everything I can,” she said afterwards.

There was a lot of work to be done, especially on shot timing and confidence. Healey also took a lot of time competing indoors to refocus.

“[I was] kind of rewiring myself,” she explained. “Doing all the international competitions over the indoor season helped me a lot. When I turned up to the World Cup, I’d seen people at all these competitions and it just felt normal. So that helped me a lot, and obviously all the work I did with my coach and all the mental work I’ve been doing really helped.” 

She set new parameters before coming to the competition in Central Florida.

“I had goals that I’d set myself: a good shoot, an okay shoot and a ‘we need to work on it’ shoot,” explained the Brit.

A ‘good’ day would be shooting a ranking round of 650 or more and making it to the quarterfinals at least – while keeping expectations in check.

“I didn’t make the 650 because of the weather, but I had a good shot process, good timing, I was in a good mental place and I kept my averages good.”

“But I didn’t really expect to medal,” she added. “Going into the semifinals essentially, I just thought: ‘Okay. How far I’ve come over the past six months is amazing as it is.’ To go along and be in that final four is an achievement in itself.”

There, Healey would have to face reigning circuit champion and and Olympic medallist Li Jiaman of China.

“She’s an amazing archer. In my head, I kind of forgot that she was a World Cup Final champion as well as an Olympic silver medallist. I just told myself: ‘I need to step up to that.’ And I did.”

Healey edged the first two sets, capitalising on a poor second end from the Chinese archer, then held her nerve and her average to close it out, 6-4. A gold medal match with Alejandra Valencia, perhaps the most experienced recurve woman in the archery peloton, would beckon.

“I was a really big fan of hers when I first come on to the circuit, and I was on a target with her in Colombia in 2022. I have a lot of appreciation for Alejandra.”

Healey shot ends of 28, 30 and 28 to push Valencia into silver.

“I remember the last end of the gold match, shooting my first arrow and seeing it land off because of the wind, and then aiming off appropriately for my last two.”

”One thing I remember saying to myself was: ‘I remember winning Antalya, but I shot an eight.’ I thought, ‘We’re not gonna finish it like that this time! I was going for a 10.’ So that’s what was going through my head!”

Of course, there is still a long outdoor season ahead, including the Hyundai World Archery Championships in Gwangju, Korea.

”There’s no point setting expectations like ‘I want to win everything – I don’t think that’s healthy in itself,” said Healey. ”I’m just going to keep doing what I wanted to do, keep focusing on how to do my shots and all that kind of thing.”

“I kind of talk myself through it,” she added. “Any time I have any kind of nerves, I just think: ‘Okay, whatever happens is gonna happen, but you can only control yourself and you can only control what you do – and that’s what we need to do.”

There have been changes in the senior British recurve ranks recently, with Olympians Bryony Pitman, Sarah Bettles and Alex Wise all announcing their retirement – putting Healey right at the head of the national team frontline.

“For me, it was really upsetting, because these are people that I’ve been training with since I was, what, 14 or 15? And now they’ve left the nest. Obviously, there is life after archery!” she said with a smile.

“I think I’m just going to keep being me, in the sense I think that’s what helps the most – especially with a team. I hope just seeing me in my own space and doing what I need to do,and training how I need to train, will really inspire any new people coming on. I’m more than happy to help them.”