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Lisell Jaatma completes emotional comeback with Shanghai gold

9 May 2026

Shanghai, China

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Lisell Jaatma hugging her mum Maarika after winning the compound women gold at Shanghai 2026.

A re-invigorated Lisell Jaatma made no mistake in the compound women’s final this time around as she produced a career-best performance to take gold at the second stage of the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai.

The 26-year-old lost last month’s gold medal match in Puebla to all-time great Sara Lopez, but once again shot superbly across both of her individual matches on a pleasant yet windy afternoon in China.

After coming through a gold-worthy 149-149 shoot-off victory over the week’s top seed Alexis Ruiz, the Estonian defeated the same archer who had beaten her in the Chengdu 2025 World Games final, Andrea Becerra, 145-144.

Jaatma dropped only one point – shooting nine 10s – in increasingly difficult conditions as the wind intensified throughout the session.

“I’m still speechless... I have to think about what happened,” said a teary-eyed Jaatma, whose mother and coach Maarika also became emotional once her daughter’s maiden World Cup gold was confirmed. “I was concentrating on doing my own thing. Just shoot well and we will see.”

“Then in the fourth end I shot two nines and got a little nervous, but in the fifth end I was like, ‘Okay, now we have to focus. Just do three good shots and we will see.’”

“I think everybody wants to win and never come back without gold,” she added. “I have silver and bronze, but I’ve been waiting for this for so long, so it means a lot.”

“It’s definitely a special one.”

It was special in more ways than one.

The victory secured Jaatma’s first win over world number one Becerra, added a second medal to her Shanghai campaign after mixed team bronze with brother Robin, and guaranteed her a place at the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Saltillo.

More importantly, however, it confirmed that her decision to step away from the sport last year had been worthwhile.

Lisell Jaatma shooting during the compound women gold medal match at Shanghai 2026.

Following her third-round elimination at the Gwangju 2025 Hyundai World Archery Championships, Jaatma revealed on social media that the outdoor season had been “tough” and disclosed she had been struggling with health issues throughout the year.

The 2024 Swiss Open Lausanne champion subsequently took six weeks away from archery and did not return to international competition until the Nimes Archery Tournament in January 2026, prioritising both physical and mental recovery during a four-month competitive break.

“It means everything to have my mum and brother here,” she said. “Last year was really hard for me, so I’m really happy and I’ve been waiting for this.”

“I was burnt out, depressed and struggling with an eating disorder,” she added when asked about that difficult period. “I basically didn’t have energy to do anything and felt bad 24/7. I made a lot of changes, started working with different specialists and slowly got better.”

Gold medals often create the greatest memories for athletes, but few victories carry a more personal meaning than completing a comeback such as this.

For years, Lisell and her brother Robin – guided by parents and coaches Maarika and Erki – have delivered international success for one of Europe’s smallest archery nations at both indoor and outdoor events.

Given everything that happened last year, however, Lisell’s triumph may well stand as the proudest moment yet for one of archery’s most tightly knit families.

The emotions at the end of the match were a reminder that sometimes there is more to sport than simply shooting arrows.

Competition in Shanghai concludes with the recurve finals on Sunday.