June 25, 2024

Ella Gibson books her ticket to the 2024 World Cup Final

Ella Gibson books her ticket to the 2024 World Cup Final. The compound GB archers return home with three medals from the third stage of the 2024 Hyundai World Cup.

After five days of shooting in 40 degrees plus temperatures, the British compound archers made three finals, following on from the success of their recurve teammates at the Final Quota Tournament.

On Wednesday 19 June, the compound women’s team competed in their elimination matches. The trio, comprising of Ella Gibson, Izzy Carpenter and Layla Annison, ranked in seventh place after the qualification round. They made it from the 1/8 round to the bronze final, defeating the teams from Brazil and second-ranked Mexico, but they lost the semi-final to Estonia by a single point, 228-227. In the fight for bronze against home-team Türkiye, the match ended on a tie, 232 points apiece, resulting in a shoot-off. A total of 28 from GB was enough to defeat their opponent’s 27, earning them the bronze.

Layla said: “I feel like we worked really well together. We tried out a slightly unorthodox shooting order as previously we’ve not medalled as a three before, and it worked. We came away with the bronze which I’m really happy about, but next year our eyes are on gold.”

From left to right: Izzy Carpenter, Ella Gibson and Layla Anniston celebrate their bronze win.

World number one compound woman Ella Gibson competed in the semi-finals on the scenic Konyaalti Beach on Saturday 22 June. She narrowly missed out on a place in the gold medal match, losing the semi-finals to Italy’s Elisa Roner 145-146. In the bronze match, Ella faced Slovenia’s Tonja Ellison who ranked in ninth place to Ella’s sixth. After tying the first end, Ella then gained and maintained a two-point lead through the following four ends, resulting in a 148-146 win. She has also become the first archer from Great Britain to make three World Cup Finals.

Ella said: “It's great to finish the season with a World Cup medal. This is actually the first bronze one I've won as I got forth at the last one. I was pretty nervous going into my bronze medal match, but I didn't want to walk away without a medal again. Duncan kept me calm and focused and it really paid off. Of course, I wanted more, but it's good to know that even when I'm not on the top of my game, I can still medal. It's great to lock in my place at the World Cup final, my third appearance in a row. I'm going to try my hardest to medal, if not come away with the win."

Ella with team manager Duncan Busby on the finals field

In the mixed team competition, Ella and Ajay Scott went into the eliminations in eleventh position. The pair caused quite the upset, knocking out the sixth-ranked Americans, and then later in the semi-finals, the second-ranked team from Colombia. This solidified their spot in Saturday’s gold final against the team from Kazakhstan. After a closely fought match finishing 158-155, GB came away with the silver.

Ajay told us: “My first experience of the World Cup finals stage was incredible. I was nervous but I loved every second of it. Ella and I shot so good together and I’m very proud of us! To come home with a medal after just my second appearance at a World Cup is something I’m very excited and proud of. I couldn’t have asked for a better end to my international season this year.”