Archery World Cup: GB Success from 2008 to Paris 2022

With the recent success for Great Britain at the Paris World Cup Stage 3 2022 still fresh, let's take a look back at our past medals and wins since 2008.

This week at the Paris World Cup, Great Britain added to their impressive medal count for 2022.

Starting with the compounds, the women's team comprising of Layla Annison, Ella Gibson and Lizzie Foster faced Turkey in the battle for gold where they came away with a silver after a close match.

Next was the mixed team where Ella Gibson came back to the stage alongside compound man Adam Carpenter. A tense match against the Estonians saw GB come on top to take the bronze medal.

And finally, Ella Gibson made her third appearance on the finals stage - this time in the individuals. She won her semi-finals to take her to the gold match where she tied against Jyothi Surekha Vennam, of India. A ten in the shoot-off won Gibson her second World Cup stage for 2022.

Recurve woman Penny Healey made the top four in the Paris finals. In the semi-finals, she narrowly lost to Utano Agu 4-6 to send her to the bronze final where she faced Misun Choi. After another tense battle for the medal, it all came down to a shoot-off where the Korean archer shot a 9 to Penny's 8 to take the win. 

Here's a look at the last time individual and team medals were won by GB prior to this season.

2008

Santo Domingo, World Cup Stage 1:

• Recurve women's team gold medal. Before the gold won by the recurve women in Antalya, you have to go back 14 years to the last time GB won the recurve women's team division at a World Cup stage. The 2008 team comprised of Naomi Folkard, Charlotte Burgess and Alison Williamson. Between them, these women attended multiple Olympics. Williamson went to six Olympics from Barcelona 1992 to London 2012, but it was Athens 2014 when she came home with the bronze. Burgess went to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and Folkard went to five Olympics, the fifth one being the most recent Games in Tokyo. This trio also won bronze in 2007 for stage 1 in Ulsan, Korea and gold for stage 4 in Dover.

"I enjoyed Dominican Republic, which had an amazing finals venue at the ruins of a castle, where we had the honour of competing for a medal. We stayed at a holiday resort, and there was so much fruit at the buffet we were spoiled for choice. I'm not keen on swimming in the sea but it was nice to walk along the shore," Naomi Folkard said.

Porec, Croatia World Cup Stage 2:

• Individual compound woman silver medal for Nichola Simpson
• Individual compound woman bronze medal for Andrea Gales
• Compound men team bronze medal for Liam Grimwood, Neil Wakelin and Adam Shaw
• Compound women team gold medal. The team comprised of Nichola Simpson, Andrea Gales and Nicky Hunt

Antalya, Turkey World Cup Stage 3:

• Compound women team silver medal for Nichola Simpson, Andrea Gales and Nicky Hunt

Boe, France World Cup Stage 4:

• Individual compound woman silver medal for Nichola Simpson
• Recurve women team bronze medal for Naomi Folkard, Charlotte Burgess and Alison Williamson

"Most successful time was 2007 - 2008 where we won a number of international medals including world cups, gold and bronze in each of those years, plus a bronze at the world champs in 2007 and ended in 4th place in Beijing, we were ranked number 2 in the world for some time. It was a successful period because we worked effectively as a team, we had freedom to train as we needed as individuals, the women's team (Charlotte, Alison and myself) chose to train together every Tuesday and Thursday with a focus on team on Thursday afternoons. We were in complete control of our own journey and were able to make the right decisions for ourselves," Folkard added.

Lausanne World Cup Finals:

• Individual compound woman silver medal for Nichola Simpson

2009

Santo Domingo World Cup Stage 1:

• Individual recurve man bronze medal for Simon Terry
• Individual recurve woman silver medal for Alison Williamson. Williamson's silver was the last time an individual recurve woman earned a World Cup stage medal before Bryony Pitman's gold in Antalya this year, 13 years later
• Recurve men team silver for Larry Godfrey, Simon Terry and Alan Wills
• Recurve women team bronze for Amy Oliver, Charlotte Burgess and Alison Williamson

Porec, Croatia World Cup Stage 2:

• Individual compound woman gold medal for Nicky Hunt

"My favourite World Cup was Croatia. It was shot on the same field which I shot my first ever international on as a junior, so it held a lot of memories for me, and it's such a beautiful country too. I won my first World Cup there, shooting the finals across some water; it was a stunning venue," Nicky Hunt said.

Antalya, Turkey World Cup Stage 3:

• Individual recurve man gold medal for Simon Terry

Copenhagen World Cup Finals:

• Individual recurve man silver medal for Simon Terry. This medal earned by the late Simon Terry was the most recent World Cup Final medal won by an individual GB recurve man.

2010

Porec World Cup Stage 1:

• Individual recurve man bronze medal for Simon Terry
• Individual compound woman silver medal for Nicky Hunt

Antalya, Turkey World Cup Stage 2:

• Individual compound woman silver medal for Nicky Hunt
• Compound men team bronze medal for Duncan Busby, Chris White and Liam Grimwood

Shanghai World Cup Stage 4:

• Individual compound woman gold medal for Nicky Hunt. Before Ella Gibson's gold medal in Antalya this year, this was the last time a compound individual won gold at a World Cup stage in 12 years
• Compound men team silver medal for Duncan Busby, Chris White and Liam Grimwood
• Compound women team bronze medal for Nichola Simpson, Danielle Brown and Nicky Hunt

Edinburgh World Cup Final:

• This was the first ever World Cup Final to allow the top eight athletes in each category to compete instead of just the top four. Nicky Hunt and Simon Terry earned their places through the standard World Cup stage process. Also, as the host country, we were guaranteed a spot for at least one GB archer per discipline. Chris White, Andrea Gales, Naomi Folkard and Alan Wills were chosen to attend, as they were the highest ranking GB archers that year for their respective categories.

"I made three gold medals in the World Cup stages in 2010 which propelled me to number one in the world. We also had the Commonwealth Games in India in the October where I won individual and team gold, and I was nominated to carry the flag at the closing ceremony for England - it was a dream come true. I was a full time physiotherapist in the NHS at the time. My day consisted of work from 8:30am to 4:30pm, and I was at the field straight from work to shoot for three to four hours, getting home for 9pm at night," Hunt said.

2012

Shanghai World Cup Stage 1:

• Compound mixed team bronze for Duncan Busby and Danielle Brown

Antalya, Turkey World Cup Stage 2:

• Recurve men team gold medal. The team comprised of Larry Godfrey, Simon Terry and Alan Wills
• Compound mixed team silver medal for Duncan Busby and Andrea Gales

Ogden, USA World Cup Stage 3:

• Individual recurve man silver medal for Larry Godfrey
• Recurve men team bronze medal. The team comprised of Larry Godfrey, Simon Terry and Alan Wills

Tokyo World Cup Final:

• Individual compound woman silver medal for Danielle Brown. Gibson's stage win in Antalya has secured her position at the 2022 World Cup Finals - this is the first time that GB has had a compound individual make the finals in ten years.

2014

Shanghai World Cup Stage 1:

• Recurve mixed team bronze medal for Naomi Folkard and Larry Godfrey. This bronze medal was the most recent recurve mixed team medal before the silver medal won by Bryony Pitman and Alex Wise in Antalya this year, eight years later. Naomi Folkard has recently made the move from GB athlete to become the newest recurve team coach.

2016

Antalya, Turkey World Cup Stage 3:

• Compound mixed team silver medal for Adam Ravenscroft and Daisy Clark

2017

Berlin World Cup Stage 4:

• Compound women team silver medal for Lucy Mason, Lucy O'Sullivan and Hope Greenwood

2018

Antalya, Turkey World Cup Stage 2:

• Recurve men team bronze medal for Alex Wise, Tom Hall and Patrick Huston

Berlin World Cup Stage 4:

• Recurve women team silver medal for Bryony Pitman, Sarah Bettles and Eleanor Piper

2019

Antalya, World Cup Stage 3:

• Compound women team bronze medal for Layla Annison, Lucy Mason and Ella Gibson

Berlin, World Cup Stage 4:

• Compound women team silver medal for Sarah Moon, Ella Gibson and Susan Corless
• Compound mixed team gold medal for James Mason and Ella Gibson

"In the last couple of years, GB have started winning more medals again, just one medal by one individual or team can boost the motivation and belief of the rest of the team, which is what may have happened with us. In 2019 we won 3 big medals in as many weeks and our belief and stature grew overnight. Those memories are still relatively recent. Plus the GB compounds have also been busy winning medals too," Folkard said.

2021

Paris, World Cup Stage 3:

• Compound women team silver for Bayley Sargeant, Layla Annison and Ella Gibson

"GB has started to become more successful again in the last few years. I think this is mostly down to individuals who are willing to put the hard work and effort in. It's hugely beneficial to have others around you to push you, and we have some great shooters in the UK. Events like the National Tour really help as they're becoming more high profile with more prize money which helps archers experience more intense environments," Hunt continued.

2022

At the first stage of the 2022 World Cup in Antalya, GB kicked off the season with a bang, securing four medals in all three competitive divisions: individual, team and mixed team. Some of these medals were record breaking for GB, ending a decade long medal drought.

Antalya, World Cup Stage 1:

• Individual recurve women gold medal for Bryony Pitman
• Recurve women team gold medal for Bryony Pitman, Penny Healey, Jaspreet Sagoo
• Recurve mixed team silver medal for Bryony Pitman and Alex Wise
• Individual compound women gold medal for Ella Gibson

"From a coaches' perspective, the key to our athletes continuing their winning streak at the World Cups this year will be their mental game. They know they are good enough to win, but so are a lot of the field, so the difference between winning and losing is what's going on in your head. You need a solid mental programme and strategies to deal with the pressures. Then trust, belief, and a little bit of luck on the day!" Hunt said.

"To continue winning medals we need to stay confident, focused on the processes, harness the positive energy within the team and ensure the preparation for each event is right and continue supporting each other," Folkard said.

The GB athletes with the highest World Cup medal caps in each category are:

• Simon Terry, recurve man - 11
• Alison Williamson, recurve woman - 8
• Nicky Hunt and Nichola Simpson, compound women - 8
• Liam Grimwood, compound man - 6