Great Britain compound archers, Ella Gibson and Ajay Scott, become World Cup stage 2 mixed team champions following LA Olympic Games announcement.
Last weekend in Pudong, Shanghai, the second stage of the Hyundai World Cup took place. World number 1 compound woman Ella Gibson, and World Cup medallist Ajay Scott, competed together in the mixed team competition. After ranking in a respectable fourth place, they fought their way through a series of intense matches, defeating Vietnam, Italy, and finally the world number one team India in the semi-final. The live finals took place on Saturday 10 May in the centre of Pudong surrounded by high-rises, where GB faced Türkiye for the coveted championship title. The British duo shot the highest match score of the finals day, coming out on top to take the gold medal.
Ajay Scott said: “You can tell everyone is going for it because of the announcement about the Olympics, and they’re all fighting super hard. It just makes it that much sweeter that we made it all the way, and it’s a real boost. On the morning of the mixed team eliminations, I went up to Adam [Carpenter] and said, ‘I’m feeling a medal today’, and Adam replied, ‘you have a medal’, and I think that’s just unreal.”
On 9 April this year, compound archery was officially added as a new Olympic discipline, set to take to the stage in LA 2028. This gold medal has solidified GB’s position as one of the teams to look out for ahead of the Games, and as a result of this achievement, they have also shot up to second in the world compound mixed team ranking.
Ella Gibson said: “In my mind I was just going, stare at the ten, aim, and let your body shoot. I think it’s really important that we can prove and show that we are here and we’re here to win. We’re not here to make up numbers and we’re not here for someone to have an easy match. We’re going to win, and we know we can.”
Shanghai was an emotion-filled, exhilarating event for the division, tears were shed and memories made. GB got to prove their abilities on the finals stage for the rest of the world to witness.
Jon Nott, coach, said: “I think this is the single most important medal GB compound archers have ever won in our history as it shows that we are competitors, and we will be competitive come 2028.”
