Actualités

Two German recurve teams make gold medal finals at Antalya 2026

21 mai 2026

Antalya, Türkiye

Vrai nom:

Germany secured places in both the men’s and women’s recurve team gold medal matches on Saturday at the 2026 European Outdoor Championships in Antalya.

“Our team especially works really hard for every tournament,” said women’s team anchor Katharina Bauer. “I think we also have really good synergy within our team. We always have each other’s backs, on and off the shooting line. It’s just a lot of fun to compete together.”

The women’s trio of Bauer, Charline Schwarz and Elisa Tartler is the exact same team that won bronze on home soil at the previous European Championships in Essen two years ago.

Germany’s women will face Belarus in the gold medal match, while the men’s team will take on Spain after both nations defeated host country Türkiye in their respective semifinals.

“We prepared for this the whole year and this championship was our main focus,” said Germany’s Moritz Wieser. “We personally also dreamed of becoming European champions, and this dream continues.”

The compound men’s gold medal match will see France face Slovenia, while Italy meets the Netherlands in the compound women’s final.

The Netherlands pairing of Sanne de Laat and Mike Schloesser also reached the compound mixed team final, where they will face Great Britain’s Ella Gibson and Ajay Scott.

“When you’re the defending champion, you have one goal and that’s recapturing that glory,” said Schloesser. “We came here a week ago and were doing well during practice. But we of course work towards the future as well, with the Olympic Games coming up.”

“Me and Sanne go way back. It’s a bond that grew through the years while competing together at the highest level. We have one clear goal and that’s to work hard for LA28. A common goal like that gives us a lot of faith in each other.”

The recurve mixed team final finally gives the host nation a shot at gold, with Elif Gokkir and Mete Gazoz facing France’s Caroline Lopez and Baptiste Addis.

Gazoz also highlighted the importance of trust within the Turkish partnership.

“What makes our team different from others is the chemistry between Elif and me, because I see her as my little sister,” said the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion.

“But she’s also a great archer whom I respect a lot. And I know Elif feels the same for me. So this maximises the trust we have towards each other on the field.”

Gazoz added that Türkiye could still finish the team events strongly despite both the recurve men’s and women’s teams falling into bronze medal matches, while the mixed team is guaranteed a shot at gold on home soil.

“We are of course very proud to be able to go to the finals here in our home country. We look forward to Sunday. We’re happy and will have a nice and peaceful sleep tonight.”

Competition at the European Championships continues with individual eliminations on Friday.

Watch this weekend’s finals live with a subscription to archery+.