Preview: European Outdoor Championships head to Türkiye with tickets for Istanbul 2027 up for grabs
It's time: 2026 sees another edition of the European Outdoor Championships. The event will be held in the familiar location of Antayla, Türkiye, one of several major events taking place in the Turkish coastal resort in the first half of this year.
The tournament has a history going back to 1968, and is usually held every two years. The event returns to Antalya after an edition in 2021 (delayed from 2020), with the last two events held in Munich in 2022 and Essen in 2024.
In Olympic years the Europeans are a major qualifying tournament; this time around there is a secondary tournament on the Friday to qualify athletes for the Istanbul 2027 European Games.
All four defending individual champions: Mete Gazoz of Türkiye, Katharina Bauer of Germany, Denmark's Mathias Fullerton, and Ella Gibson of Great Britain will return to try and defend their titles. For Mete, the competition in Essen crowned an extraordinary achievement: making him the first archer in history to hold the Olympic, world and European titles simultaneously.
With Mete showing a surge in form again and taking silver in Shanghai, other Turkish archers on the rise and looking for a home win, and every major European nation and archer present, there could be some major battles ahead.
All the weekend’s finals will be broadcast live on archery+.
Key information
What’s happening? The 29th edition of the biannual European Championships on 18-24 May 2026 at the Turkish Archery Federation field in Antalya.
What’s at stake? Continental titles and quota places for the 2027 European Games.
Who’s competing? 307 archers from 41 countries.
What’s the story? A frequent proving ground for Olympic medal hopefuls, the outdoor champs is the third major tournament in Antalya this year, after the European Grand Prix Spring Arrows in April and the upcoming Antalya 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup stage 3 in June.
Event schedule
- Tuesday 19 May: Qualifications
- Wednesday 20 May: Eliminations
- Thursday 21 May: Eliminations
- Friday 22 May: European Games quota tournament
- Saturday 23 May: Compound finals
- Sunday 24 May: Recurve finals
Defending champions
See full results from Essen 2024 European Archery Championships.
- Recurve men: Mete Gazoz, Türkiye
- Recurve women: Katharina Bauer, Germany
- Recurve teams: France (men), France (women) and Germany (mixed)
- Compound men: Mathias Fullerton, Denmark
- Compound women: Ella Gibson, Great Britain
- Compound teams: Italy (men), Türkiye (women) and the Netherlands (mixed)
How to watch
Live scores will be available on the World Archery website, and there will be coverage on World Archery America’s digital platforms throughout the competition.
The recurve and compound finals on Saturday and Sunday will be available to watch with a subscription to archery+
Who's competing?
These are the top-ranked archers competing at the 2026 European Outdoor Championships.
- Recurve men: Andres Temiño Mediel, Spain (world rank: 4)
- Recurve women: Penny Healey, Great Britain (world rank: 7)
- Compound men: Mathias Fullerton, Denmark (world rank: 1)
- Compound women: Ella Gibson, Great Britain (world rank: 2)
A total of 307 archers (171 men and 136 women) from the national teams of the following 41 countries are competing at these championships: AIN, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and Ukraine.
Competition in Antalya begins on Tuesday with recurve and compound qualification.
