News

Italy takes 11 golds at European Indoor Championships as mixed teams debut

22 February 2026

Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Real name:

Italy dominated the 2026 European Indoor Archery Championships, taking 21 medals across senior and under-21 categories in recurve, compound and barebow.

The competition also featured mixed team events for the first time.

Italy has long been a major force at these championships and excelled particularly in the team events. It won gold in compound mixed team, barebow mixed team, compound women’s team, and both men’s and women’s barebow team events. The only setback came in recurve men, where Israel took the title – and also secured gold in the recurve mixed team event.

The individual competitions proved more open, with several top seeds falling at the final hurdle. In compound men, 24-year-old Michea Godano – the reigning European field champion – claimed his first major international target title, beating France’s Nicolas Girard in a shoot-off.

The recurve men’s final was an all-Ukrainian contest, with Mykhailo Usach edging out his more experienced teammate and Olympian Oleksii Hunbin also in a shoot-off. The recurve women’s title went to neutral athlete Nurinisso Makhmudova, who defeated top seed Roberta Di Francesco, 6-4, in a high-quality gold medal match.

In barebow, favourite Cinzia Noziglia was beaten in the final by her 16-year-old Italian teammate Linda Grezzani. The teenager secured her first senior title after winning the under-21 category at last year’s European Championships. It leaves Noziglia, long considered the ‘queen of barebow’, without a major international victory since her 3D world title in 2024.

Neutral athlete Vitalii Budiak took barebow men’s gold, defeating France’s David Jackson.

The only top seed to win a senior title was Denmark’s Sofie Louise Dam Marcussen, who beat Amanda Mlinaric of Croatia, 148-144, in the compound women’s final.

The championships marked the first inclusion of mixed team events across six senior categories, expanding medal opportunities and highlighting the depth of talent across the divisions.

Many athletes – particularly in barebow – are already turning their focus towards the World Archery Field Championships and World Archery 3D Championships in the USA later this year.