News

24 archers advance to World Archery Field Championships semifinals

26 September 2026

Yankton (USA)

Real name:

Twenty-four archers are through to the individual semifinals at the Yankton 2026 World Archery Field Championships after qualification and eliminations in Yankton.

After a cut to 24 in every category with at least that many entrants, the top eight seeds received byes, while the remaining 16 faced an additional knockout round before the last 16 and quarterfinals. Categories with fewer than 24 entrants went straight to the last 16.

The barebow men’s division saw shock exits for the leading Italians, with Simone Barbieri falling to young Swede Leo Pettersson and Matteo Uggeri losing to 10th seed Christopher Kent-Rodgman of Canada in the quarterfinals.

Fourth seed Giuseppe Seimandi, the last edition’s bronze medallist, did make it through against Ryan Davis, while veteran and multiple champion Erik Jonsson edged out France’s David Jackson to take the fourth semifinal spot.

In barebow women, top seed Eleonora Strobbe of Italy made it safely through to face fifth seed Nicky Fairweather in the semifinals. Germany’s Nora Kipferler and Australia’s May Hu, fourth at the last edition in Lac La Biche, complete the final four.

The biggest shock came in the last 16, where second seed and former champion Cinzia Noziglia was eliminated.

The recurve men’s event ran closer to the form book, with top seeds Brady Ellison and Florian Unruh both making the semifinals, where they will face Israeli Olympians Roy Dror and Itay Shanny. Dror posted a huge score of 102 in the semifinals.

“I feel amazing,” said Dror. “It was very difficult for me. There were a lot of mental challenges today, but I managed to make a lot of good shots and shoot a very high score, which I’m very happy about. Tomorrow I’m going to do everything exactly the same.”

Dror has been posting high-level target results – especially indoors – for several years, but this is only his second field competition.

“I had a competition in Luxembourg a few weeks ago, so it’s new to me, but I started doing it so I could, in the future, participate in the World Games and get a world ranking – and now I will keep doing it!”

In recurve women, top seed Roberta Di Francesco made the semifinals, but there was an upset as France’s 10th seed Audrey Machinet knocked out the other Italian, Chiara Rebagliati, in the quarterfinals.

Slovenia’s Zana Pintaric and USA’s Casey Kaufhold, competing at her first world field championships, complete the Saturday semifinal line-up.

In compound women, the top three seeds – and the same three medallists from Lac La Biche 2024 – all came through their matches to make the semifinals. Paige Pearce, Ella Gibson and Amanda Mlinaric will be joined by 13th seed Austria’s Brigitte Steiner.

Gibson was acutely aware of her previous experience in Yankton, particularly her visit in 2022.

“Last time I came to Yankton I made a final four and I finished fourth, so I really liked it before, but with them, of course, every competition your aim is always to win,” the British archer said. “I know there are some great archers here. I’ll shoot my game and hopefully it’ll be enough to win this time.”

Gibson shot the final two ends of her quarterfinal cleanly to get the job done.

“In the last eight I was one behind [against Cassidy Cox], then equal, then one behind and it kind of only came down to the last couple of targets, so I was really happy to pull that through and keep my focus.”

The compound men’s semifinals will feature Slovenia’s Tim Jevsnik, who medalled on the target World Cup circuit this year, world number one Mathias Fullerton – only the 13th seed in Yankton – Gaius Carter and Domagoj Buden. The biggest fallers were the top two seeds and former champions: Mike Schloesser, who fell to Jevsnik in the semifinals, and Nico Wiener, who lost to Jimmy Lutz in the last 16.

Carter, who posted a big 106 to beat Italy’s Marco Bruno and make the semifinals, said: “I’m excited to be out of the muddy mess that we were in and back behind the Yankton facility with gravel that’s a lot nicer to be in. The weather has been a unique challenge.”

“I was really confident in the shots and it wasn’t just shooting sixes. I was shooting really, really good groups and like I would have six, six, five or six, five, five, but they were really close, really good groups,” he added.

The under-21 categories also shot through to their gold and bronze medal matches, with the barebow men’s final a repeat of the 2024 final in Lac La Biche between Great Britain’s Oliver Hicks and Sweden’s Ludvig Rohlin. While Rohlin won that encounter, Hicks has led at every stage of this competition so far.

The competition continues with senior and under-21 individual finals on Saturday, followed by the team and mixed team finals on Sunday.

Both days of the weekend’s finals will be available to watch on archery+.