World Championship successes secure GB archers vital Paralymic quota spots as countdown to Paris begins

Archery GB is celebrating the successes of several of its athletes at the World Para Championships which was held in Pilsen, Czech Republic. Their success also secured vital Paris 2024 Paralympic quota spots for Great Britain, as the one-year countdown to the 2024 games begins, today.

In the visually impaired 2/3 category, archers from Great Britain monopolised the final shoot-offs fielding three of the final four athletes vying for the much-desired medals.

The fight for gold however was between, Stourbridge based Steve Prowse and Italy’s Daniele Piran. Steve, a three-time winner of this title previously, drew on all of his expertise to battle through an incredibly close match, with both archers shooting some amazing rounds to eventually secure his fourth World Para Championship title and the gold medal with a 6-2 victory.

Speaking of his impressive win Steve said: “This is my fourth World Championship gold medal, and everyone is so special for its own reason. The range of archers, from a growing number of countries participating, is therefore now making the category far more competitive, which can only be a good thing for the future of VI archery.”

In the previous match, Nick Thomas from Talysarn, Wales mastered an impressive 6-0 victory over fellow Brit Phil Tranter to win the bronze medal, a medal made even more impressive by the fact that Nick’s preparations for the championships were heavily hampered by a huge medical setback in May.

Following his bronze medal win, Nick said: “Winning the bronze medal feels like a huge achievement. I suffered a stroke in late May and was scared that would be the end of my Championship hopes, but with hard work and determination I was able to achieve a fantastic result.”

Golden glory was also celebrated over in the compound category, as Phoebe Paterson Pine and Jodie Grinhamsuccessfully shot to the gold medal in the women’s open doubles. Facing Brazil in the final, the pair came from behind to finish their final with an almost perfect points finish in the final round of shooting to secure the title 152-145.

Speaking of the history of their partnership, Jodie said: “We’ve shot together for years like when it was a three-person team, even when it went to doubles, we’ve shot together. We won gold back in Czech Republic but the one thing we’d never done was got World Champion, so we’ve ticked that box finally.”

Telford-based athlete Phoebe added: “I think for me personally, having gone out and got Paralympic Champion, European Champion and now World Champion I feel like I’ve got the set. So, I feel like I exceeded my expectations of what I wanted to come out here and do.”

In the final match of the compound category, Nathan Macqueen competed for the compound men’s open title against Italy’s Matteo Bonacina. Both men were tied after the first two ends, setting up a nail-biting end to the match. With Nathan battling valiantly and pushing the Italian to shoot at his very best right to the end, Nathan narrowly missed the gold medal by 2 points, with the final score being 141-139 resulting in a silver World Para Championships medal for the Brit.

Shortly after the final, Nathan said: “It means the world to me to finally bring home a Worlds medal. I got myself into a really good spot for the Worlds in 2022 and unfortunately missed it due to catching covid two days before flying. So, this is redemption for me. I was just trying to take it an arrow at a time and not think too much about anything else other than the next shot.”

For more information on Archery GB and its performance teams, please visit archerygb.org.