The GB team come home with six medals from the European Para Finals in Czech Republic.
In Nove Mesto, Czech Republic at the closing international para event of the season, the European Para Finals, GB took to the stage. Having earned their spots from their success at the other para championships and cups this year, our archers shot for the chance for overall glory.
One of the highlight matches for GB was between the compound women’s open teammates, Phoebe Paterson Pine and Jess Stretton, who fought for individual gold. After two ends, the women were only one point apart, 58-57 in Phoebe’s favour. Phoebe extended this lead over the following three ends, taking the match win with five points to spare, 143-138.
Phoebe said: “It’s never fun to shoot against a teammate, but Jess kept me on my toes and I’m proud of her for making it to the gold and winning silver. We both work really hard and it’s great to be able to show what GBR is made of with her.”
Phoebe also shot in the compound open mixed team gold final with Jamie Harris where they faced the 1st ranked team from Italy. This match was neck and neck until the very end, resulting in a 152-tie shoot-off. Unfortunately, Italy pipped GB to the win by just one point, 19-18, awarding Phoebe and Jamie the silver medal.
Jamie said: "It's always great to make it to a final, especially when you're there with a good friend. We put everything we had into it, we really gave our all, unfortunately, we were just pipped right at the post. So, we are going to go away and train and give it a bit more for next year."
In the W1 men’s open category, Martin Saych shot against 4th ranked Karel Davidek from Czech Republic for the bronze medal. By the third end, the men were tied on 74 apiece, and in the fourth end Martin gained another point over his opponent. A 25 from Martin versus Davidek’s 21 won the GB archer the match with 123-118.
Victoria Kingstone won bronze for the W1 open women, and Martin and Victoria together claimed bronze for the mixed team. For both of these categories due to a smaller field of competitors, after missing out on a chance to shoot for gold they won their bronze medals without having to move forward to the third-fourth play-offs.
To see all the scores, use the link here.
