June 28, 2023

Penny Healey is the European Games champion and wins an individual GB women's spot for the Olympics

Penny Healey has won the gold medal match at the European Games in Poland, securing GB an individual recurve women’s Olympic spot for Paris 2024

With a 1st place finish in the bag, Penny has also earned an individual recurve women’s quota spot for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The world number two archer shot some astounding matches on her route through to the finals in Krakow, Poland. She had a perfect 6-0 victory in the 1/16 round, and then a 7-1 win in the 1/8 against Sweden's Christine Bjerendal. In the quarter finals, she faced Caroline Lopez from France and won that match too with 7 set points to 1.

Her semi-finals against Italy's Chiara Regaliati was near perfect. She opened with a 27 to the Italian's 16 to take the first lot of set points in end one. Penny then increased her score by one point with a 28 to take the next set. In the third end, Regaliati had a 29 end in the target, meaning Penny needed a ten with her final arrow to win, and she did just that.

In the gold final against Spain's Elia Canales, Penny was on top form. The first end was tied on 26 apiece, and both archers adjusted accordingly. Following that end, Penny had a perfect 30 to take the match to 3-1. The third end was a 28 which was enough to win the next lot of set point from Canales. This meant that Penny only needed to tie the last end to take the win. It was close until the very last arrow, but 29 apiece was enough for Penny to win the match 6-2, crowning her the European Games champion for 2023.

Penny said: "This win means a lot. Before this week my Nan died, so I wanted to dedicate anything I did to her and I wanted to do the best I could."

World number one compound woman Ella Gibson will also shoot for gold today.

After ranking in 1st place with a new world record of 715 points, Ella earned herself a bye straight through to the quarter finals. Her match against Dutch archer Sanne de Laat was neck and neck the whole way through, but in the final end, Ella managed to shoot her last arrow in the ten to secure a one point lead to win, 143-142.

She faced Turkish archer Hazal Burun in the semi-finals which started very close at 89-87 in Ella's favour after end three. In the fourth end, a 27 from Burun versus Ella's 29 gave the Brit a four point lead going into the final three arrows. Both archers shot a perfect 30 to end the match, but Ella stormed ahead with a 148-144 to take the win.

In the gold final against Eliza Roner from Italy, Ella took the lead by a point in the first end with 29-28. Both archers then shot 28 each in the second end, keeping Ella one point ahead overall. Roner bounced back with a perfect 30 to Ella's 28 to overtake with 86-85. Ella finished the match with two 27 ends and a total of 139 points, but unfortunately this wasn't enough to beat Roner's 145, awarding Ella the silver medal.