Preview: Barebow stars lead expanded 21st European Indoor Championships in Plovdiv
The 21st European Indoor Archery Championships heads to Plovdiv (Bulgaria) on 17-21 February, with 318 athletes entered in a significantly expanded event compared to last year’s edition in Türkiye.
The Bulgarian city previously hosted the 2022 European Grand Prix, among other international archery events.
The championships are notable for featuring many of the world’s leading barebow archers, with Great Britain, Serbia and Romania among the nations sending teams dominated by barebow specialists.
Italy’s Simone Barbieri, last year’s silver medallist and now World Games Champion, is likely the favourite in barebow men, with Britain’s Oliver Hicks absent from the field.
In barebow women, Italian legend Cinzia Noziglia, who won the title in 2022, lost gold in 2024 to San Marino’s Kristina Maria Pruccoli. Both athletes then finished behind Giulia Mantilli in 2025. Noziglia and Pruccoli will both return to action at the Kolodrum Arena next week.
There is also a small but high-quality compound field at the competition, including Nicolas Girard, Domagoj Buden, Mario Vavro, Martin Damsbo, Jean-Philippe Boulch, Jozef Bosansky, Amanda Mlinaric and Elisa Roner.
Key information
What’s happening? The 21st edition of the European Indoor Archery Championships on 17-21 February 2026 at the Kolodrum Arena. Plovdiv, built on seven hills, was the European Capital of Culture in 2019.
What’s at stake? Individual and team titles in compound, barebow and recurve in both under-21 and senior categories.
Who’s competing? 318 archers from 28 countries.
What’s the story? The European indoor championships is one of only a handful of major target events to award barebow titles, placing significant attention on that category.
Schedule
- Tuesday 17 February: Qualifying
- Wednesday 18 February: Eliminations
- Thursday 19 February: Team eliminations
- Friday 20 February: Team finals
- Saturday 21 February: Individual finals
How to watch
Live scores will be available throughout the week on the World Archery website, along with coverage across World Archery’s digital platforms.
The event will not be livestreamed.
Who’s competing?
Full entries are available online. These are the top-ranked archers shooting in Plovdiv:
- Recurve men: Matteo Borsani, Italy (world rank: 8)
- Recurve women: Chiara Rebagliati, Italy (world rank: 16)
- Compound men: Nicolas Girard, France (world rank: 3)
- Compound women: Amanda Mlinaric, Croatia (world rank: 8)
Competition at the European Indoor Archery Championships starts on Tuesday.
