24 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 for every category that had at least that number of entrants, the top eight were byed through with the following 16 facing an extra knockout round before last 16 and last 8 rounds. Categories with less than 24 entrants had a straightforward cut to the last 16 for the knockout rounds.
The barebow men‘s division saw shock exits at the last hurdle for the leading Italians, with Simone Barbieri falling to young Swede Leo Pettersson and Matteo Uggeri exiting to tenth seed Christopher Kent-Rodgman of Canada in the last eight.
The fourth seeded Italian Giuseppe Seimandi, last edition‘s bronze medallist, did get through his match against Ryan Davis, with veteran and multiple champion Erik Jonsson edging out France‘s David Jackson for the fourth spot.
In barebow women, top seed Eleonora Strobbe of Italy made it safely through to face fifth seed Nicky Fairweather in the last four, with Nora Kipferler of Germany and another Australian, May Hu who was fourth last time out in Lac La Biche also in the mix. The biggest shock was losing 2nd seed and former champion Cinzia Noziglia in the last 16.
Recurve men ran closer to the form book, with top seeds Brady Ellison and Florian Unruh both in the final, to face two Israeli Olympians, Roy Dror and Itay Shanny, with Dror putting in a monster score of 102 in the semi.
“I feel amazing, it was very difficult for me. There was a lot of mental challenges today but I managed to do a lot of good shots and go out and shoot a very high score which I'm very happy about. Tomorrow I’m going to do everything exactly the same.” said Dror.
Dror has been posting high level target results – especially indoors – for some years, but this is only his second field competition. “I had a competition in Luxembourg a few weeks ago, so its 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 last four but there was an upset as France‘s Audrey Machinet, the tenth seed, pushed out the other Italian, Chiara Rebagliati in the last eight.
Slovenia‘s Zana Pintaric and the USA‘s Casey Kaufhold, in her debut world field competition, rounded out Saturday’s final sheet.
Compound women saw the top three seeds and the same three podium finishers in Lac Lac Biche, Paige Pearce, Ella Gibson, and Amanda Mlinaric all come through their matches to make the final four with some huge scores. They will be joined by the 13th seed, Austria's veteran Brigitte Steiner.
Gibson was acutely aware of the past, especially 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. I know there's some great archers here I'll shoot my game and hopefully it'll be enough to win this time,” said the reigning Vegas Shoot champion.
Gibson shot the last two ends of her semi clean to get the jobs 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 final fours are Slovenia's Tim Jevsnik, who medalled on the target World Cup circuit this year; world number one – but only 13th seed here – Mathias Fullerton, Gaius Carter, and Domagoj Buden. The big fallers were the top two seeds and former champions: Mike Schloesser, who fell to Jevsnik in the semi, and Nico Wiener who lost to Jimmy Lutz in the last 16.
Carter, who posted a big 106 to get past Italy’s Marco Bruno to make the final, 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 down to gold and bronze finals, with the barebow men's final a repeat of the final in Lac La Biche in 2024 between GBR'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 Saturday, followed by team and mixed team finals competition on Sunday.
Both days of the weekend’s finals will be available to watch on archery+.
Final fours: 2026 World field
Full results available on the event page.
Recurve men
- Semifinal: Florian Unruh, Germany versus Roy Dror, Israel
- Semifinal: Itay Shanny, Israel versus Brady Ellison, USA
Recurve women
- Semifinal: Roberta Di Francesco, Italy versus Casey Kaufhold, USA
- Semifinal: Zana Pintaric, Slovenia versus Audrey Machinet, France
Compound men
- Semifinal: Tim Jevsnik, Slovenia versus Mathias Fullerton, Denmark
- Semifinal: Gaius Carter, USA versus Domagoj Buden, Croatia
Compound women
- Semifinal: Paige Pearce, USA versus Brigitte Steiner, Austria
- Semifinal: Ella Gibson, Great Britain versus Amanda Mlinaric, Croatia
Barebow men
- Semifinal: Leo Pettersson, Sweden versus Giuseppe Seimandi, Italy
- Semifinal: Erik Jonsson, Sweden versus Christopher Kent-Rodgman, Canada
Barebow women
- Semifinal: Eleonora Strobbe, Italy versus Nicky Fairweather, Australia
- Semifinal: Nora Kipferler, Germany versus May Hu, Australia
