GB return home with five medals from Rotterdam for the 2023 European Para Championships.
Rotterdam in the Netherlands played host to this year’s European Para Championships, where GB rose to the occasion, bringing home five medals from the event.
Nathan Macqueen brought home the gold medal for the compound men open’s category. He faced 6th ranked Fernando Galé Montorio from Spain in the live finals. Nathan started with a four point lead after the first end, but Galé Montorio came back in the third end to bring the men only a point apart. In the end, Nathan finished the match with a 30 and a 29 to win 142-137. Nathan's performance also resulted in him moving up to first in the world rankings.
Nathan said: "After the worlds I was worried I had just got lucky, but I feel that two gold medals at the Europeans sealed the deal for me. To end the season as world number 1 too is just amazing, it's been the prefect season and I can't wait for 2024."
Compound women’s open pairing, Jodie Grinham and Jess Stretton who ranked in 2nd shot against the 4th ranked team from Poland in the bronze final. A miss from Poland in the first end vs GB’s 32 secured the women a nine-point lead. Poland responded with a 33 and two 34s, but it was not enough to overtake GB’s 37 and two 32s. They took the bronze with 133-124.
Jodie said: “I’m very delighted to have won bronze with Jess this week, we both had our challenges and to show we are both still a competitive team was incredible. It’s been a hard few months coming back from maternity, but I know what I need to do to keep improving and I can't wait for next season.”
In the compound open mixed team gold finals, Nathan Macqueen was paired with Paralympic champion Phoebe Paterson-Pine. They faced the 1st ranked team from Italy in the gold medal match. GB took an early lead after the first two ends with 75-64, and this continued through to the end of the match which finished on 152-138.
Phoebe said: “I feel really proud to have won a gold medal at the Europeans. The worlds was incredibly tough for me and I’ve worked hard over the last three weeks to get back to feeling like me, and I can feel the progress I’ve made, so I feel excited to see what’s to come for me. I’m also super proud to have been part of a successful team and to see so many teammates do well too.”
The fifth and final medal win for GB came from the W1 mixed team pair, Martin Saych and Victoria Kingstone. The 3rd ranked team faced the 4th ranked team from Czech Republic in a nail-biting, close match. After two ends, GB were five points ahead on 55 to Czech’s 50. The opponents then shot two 33 ends, but it wasn’t quite enough to overtake GB, who won 117-116.
Also, through her performance this week, Victoria has earned GB a W1 women's quota spot for the 2024 Paris Paralymoic Games!
On the recurve side, recurve men’s open double duo Cameron Radigan and Dave Phillips shot in the gold final. 1st ranked Türkiye took the first end with a 34 to GB’s 26. GB came back with a 35, 36 and 34 to win the following three ends, winning the match 6-2.
