Archery Blog
Gazoz Wins Olympic Rematch | Archery Weekly Jul 6-12
Jul
Six years after Tokyo, Mete Gazoz stood on the same side of the target as Mauro Nespoli and finished the job again. The Turkish archer dropped a single set on his way through the recurve men’s bracket at the final stage of the season, and the headline result set the tone for a week in Madrid that rewarded the archers who have been chasing a first big title for years. Here’s everything that mattered from July 6–12.
Over 300 archers shot the final stage of the 2026 World Cup circuit in the Spanish capital.
Gazoz Wins the Olympic Rematch at the Madrid 2026 Archery World Cup
The recurve men’s final at the Madrid 2026 Archery World Cup was the match everyone circled on the schedule. Gazoz against Nespoli, Turkey against Italy, a straight replay of the Tokyo 2020 gold medal bout. This time Gazoz never let it get close, controlling the tempo and closing out the win without needing the drama of a shoot-off. Across his last two matches of the day he gave up just one set, which tells you how clean his shooting was under a Spanish crowd that packed the finals field.
What makes the result worth watching is timing. Gazoz has spent chunks of this season fighting his own form, and turning it on at the last stage before the World Cup Final is exactly what a top archer wants heading into a title decider. Nespoli, for his part, keeps proving that the veterans in this sport do not fade quietly.
The two have a history that runs deeper than one Olympic final. Gazoz was 22 when he beat Nespoli in Tokyo, and the Italian has been a fixture on European podiums for the better part of two decades. Watching a rematch at a packed Madrid finals field, years after the moment that made Gazoz a household name in Turkey, is the sort of storyline that keeps recurve archery worth following past the medal count. Gazoz shot like a man who had already been here and knew exactly what the pressure felt like.
Horackova Finally Breaks Through in Recurve Women
Marie Horackova had never reached a World Cup final four before this week. She left Madrid with the gold medal. The Czech archer beat Turkey’s Elif Gökkir 6-0 in the final, a clean sweep that ended a long wait to convert good qualifying scores into a podium finish at this level.
Her run stood out in a field stacked with the usual Korean and Chinese contenders. Li Jiaman of China had topped qualification with 673 points, and the depth of the women’s recurve draw usually swallows first-time finalists. Horackova didn’t blink. If you have ever plateaued at your club and wondered whether the ceiling was real, her week is a decent argument that it isn’t.
Spain Wins a Home Classic Over China
The recurve mixed team final gave the host crowd the result it came for. Elia Canales and Andres Temiño Mediel beat China in a shoot-off to take mixed team gold, capping a run in which the Spanish pair knocked out both the United States and world number one Korea to reach the final. Canales and Temiño had already beaten the Paris Olympic bronze medallists on the way through, so the title was no fluke.
Shoot-offs in mixed team are brutal because two archers share the pressure of a single arrow each. Spain held their nerve on home soil, and the noise when the last arrow landed told the story better than any scorecard. It’s the kind of result that pushes a whole national program forward.
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Zuluaga Stuns Schloesser for a First Compound Gold
Colombia found a new star. Pablo Gomez Zuluaga beat Mike Schloesser to win compound men’s individual gold, the first individual World Cup title of his career and a real scalp given Schloesser’s record at the top of the discipline. Zuluaga’s win fits a season-long pattern of Colombian compound archers punching above their seeding, and it’s a reminder that the compound men’s field no longer runs through two or three names.
Compound scoring at this level is merciless — the podium is often decided by a point or two across 15 arrows. Beating an archer of Schloesser’s consistency means Zuluaga barely missed the middle all match. Keep an eye on him at the World Cup Final.
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Denmark and Colombia Take the Compound Team Titles
Denmark closed out its 2026 campaign with compound men’s team gold, proving too strong for Mexico in the final. Anchored by Mathias Fullerton, who had topped individual qualification, the Danes have quietly built one of the deepest compound rosters in the world.
In the compound women’s team event, Colombia denied India the gold. India’s trio of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep had edged South Korea 231-228 in a tight semi-final to reach the final, but settled for silver against a Colombian squad led by Sara Lopez. India has been the story of the compound women’s circuit all year, and a silver at the final stage still points them toward the World Cup Final in good shape.
That semi-final scoreline is worth sitting with for a second. Beating Korea by three points across three archers and 24 arrows means India dropped almost nothing under real pressure, and it’s the kind of team performance that usually converts to gold. Running into Sara Lopez in the final is a different problem — she has been the benchmark in compound women’s archery for years, and Colombia’s roster around her has caught up to her level rather than leaning on it. The gold medal match was less an upset than a collision of the two best programs in the discipline right now.
Kim Woojin Returns to the Top of Qualifying
Not every storyline was a final. Kim Woojin shot 695 in recurve men’s qualification for the number one seed, four points clear of second and his best qualifying result of 2026. He stacked 31 tens and 20 X’s, matching Kim Je Deok for the most in the field. After quarterfinal and round-of-16 exits earlier in the season at Shanghai and Antalya, the Korean credited a simpler mental approach: “shooting with more confidence and focusing on the direction where the wind was right.”
There’s a lesson buried in that quote for the rest of us. Woojin didn’t overhaul his equipment to climb back to the top seed — he tightened his read on conditions and trusted his shot. A top qualifier who then loses early is a familiar heartbreak in this sport, so the eliminations still matter more than the ranking round, but pole position never hurts.
Gibson’s Milestone and a Thunderstorm-Shortened Qualifier
Britain’s Ella Gibson reached her tenth World Cup final four in compound women, beating Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yi-Hsuan 144-140 in the quarterfinal to get there. Reaching double digits in final-four appearances is the kind of consistency that separates the genuinely elite from the occasionally hot.
The compound qualification round itself turned into a mess when a thunderstorm rolled over the field. Officials called it after just 36 arrows, which handed Sara Lopez the women’s top seed on 353 and Fullerton the men’s on 358 from a shortened count. Cutting a 72-arrow qualifier in half changes the math on seeding, and a few archers no doubt felt hard done by — that’s outdoor archery for you.
Looking Ahead
Madrid was the last regular stop on the 2026 circuit, which means the calendar now points to the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Saltillo, Mexico. Only the top eight archers per discipline earn a spot there, and this week’s results reshuffled who’s carrying momentum. Gazoz and Horackova arrive hot in recurve; Zuluaga and the Danish compound crew have the wind at their backs.
For the archers reading at home, the off-week between stages is the right time to check string wear, re-tune after a season of shooting, and log your indoor scores before the winter series starts. If you want a head start, our draw weight selection guide and recurve accuracy tips both pair well with what the Madrid finalists were doing on the line. Compound shooters can start with our beginner compound bow breakdown. We’ll be back next Monday with the road to Saltillo.
Sources
- World Archery — News — Madrid 2026 stage 4 finals coverage, July 6–12.
- World Archery — Kim Woojin returns to pole position at Madrid 2026 — qualification scores and quotes.
- World Archery — Spain topples USA and Korea to reach home mixed team final — recurve mixed team run.
- World Archery — Denmark ends 2026 campaign with compound men’s team gold — team final result.
- World Archery — Zuluaga stuns Schloesser for first individual World Cup gold — compound men’s final.
- Olympics.com — Archery World Cup 2026 Madrid Stage 4 — schedule and results context.
