News

World champion Temiño Mediel wins first Indoor World Series event at Nimes

18 January 2026

Nimes, France

Real name:

Reigning recurve men’s world champion Andres Temiño Mediel made a seamless transition to indoor archery as he won the Nimes Archery Tournament on his first appearance of the 2026 Indoor Archery World Series season.

The Spaniard pipped Chinese Taipei’s Wei Chun-Heng via a shoot-off to top the podium at Le Parnasse Hall, claiming his first senior Indoor World Series gold. He had previously won silver in the under-21 category at Nimes 2024 and bronze at the Youth Finals later that year.

Both archers shot at an exceptional level in France, as they had done on Saturday when they knocked out the weekend’s top two seeds – Mediel against Marcus D’Almeida in the semifinals and Wei against Thomas Chirault in the quarterfinals – averaging 9.94 per arrow from the 16 they shot, with four perfect ends out of five.

Although Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games silver medallist Wei dropped the first nine of the match in the second set, the momentum appeared to shift when Mediel dragged his shot just wide right into the nine-ring in the fourth, wiping out the narrow lead he had built to make it 4-4.

Surely, on his first appearance on the international indoor circuit this season, there would be a hint of panic after a faltering shot in a match decided by such tight margins?

Absolutely not. The 21-year-old did not let any potential rust get the better of him, dropping his next three arrows into the 10 – as did Wei – to force a shoot-off, where his winning arrow landed a few centimetres closer to the centre than his opponent’s.

“I was a bit nervous, the pressure got to me, and I shot a nine,” said Mediel when asked about his only dropped point of the match. “It’s been quite a job getting here in good shape.”

“The truth is, after the world championships, I’ve had more confidence in myself when shooting, but above all else I’m really enjoying it – every training session, every competition, and especially being in the present moment.”

The shout of “Vamos!” at the end was reminiscent of when he defeated world number two D’Almeida in Gwangju four months ago, also via a shoot-off.

It will be the last time Mediel is seen shooting at 18 metres this season, however. Despite gaining a valuable 1000 points in Nimes, Puebla (Mexico) – host of the first stage of the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup – is where fans can expect to see him next.

What also felt like déjà vu was Lisa Barbelin’s bronze medal match against Czechia’s Marie Horackova.

Just as she was in Paris 2024 against Jeon Hunyoung, the underdog pushed one of the tournament favourites – Horackova was the recurve women’s top seed in Nimes – to a fifth set, but this time had to mount a comeback after falling behind 4-1 after three sets.

Buoyed by the home crowd, the French Olympic medallist maintained her consistency by shooting two 29s in the final two sets, while Berlin 2023 world champion Horackova faltered with a 27 and a 28, sparking a cacophony of applause in Le Parnasse Hall, much like in Les Invalides 18 months ago.

There was more joy for France in the following match when Victoria Sebastian, who hails from the southern French city, defeated Mexico’s Angela Ruiz 7-3 to take her second gold of the 2026 Indoor Archery World Series, following her Taipei Archery Openn triumph in December.

“I think it’s the first time in seven years that someone from Nimes has won in Nimes, so I’m really happy about that, and about what’s coming next and the experience I gained,” said Sebastian.

You can watch all medal matches back on archery+.

Merida (Mexico) hosts the next and penultimate stage of the Indoor Archery World Series before the season finale at The Vegas Shoot from 13-15 February.