Gibson upgrades at Euros as Barbelin, Schloesser add to legends

Action concluded on Saturday at the 2022 European Indoor Championships with the individual finals – and 12 new continental champions crowned in senior and under-21 age groups competing in recurve, compound and, for the very first time, barebow divisions.

Those inaugural titles were won by Sweden’s Leo Pettersson, aged just 18, and multiple field and 3D discipline champion Cinzia Noziglia of Italy. 

Lisa Barbelin added the indoor title to her European outdoor crown in the recurve women’s event, while her compatriot, Jacquey Clement, upset Olympic silver medallist Jean-Charles Valladont in an all-French recurve men’s final.

World number one Mike Schloesser dominated the compound men’s field – while senior world number two, Mathias Fullerton, won the under-21 event – and Ella Gibson upgraded from the silver medal she won at last May’s European outdoor championships to an individual gold this time around in Slovenia.

Ultimately, though, it was Ukraine who topped the medal table, edging Italy and Russia after collecting four golds, courtesy a strong showing from its youth team.

Barebow

After breaking her own European ranking record from 2020 during qualifying earlier this week, Italy’s Cinzia Noziglia entered the matchplay phase of the barebow women’s competition in Lasko as the number one seed and undisputed favourite.

She was simply too good for opening contenders Yulia Blanter and Maria Olesen, defeating both in straight sets, but Noziglia, already twice a European champion in the disciple of field archery, saved her best for the spotlight. She faced her Italian compatriot and the number two seed Fabia Rovatti for gold – and shot three sublime sets in the arena, dropping just two points in nine arrows to claim the title.

Another Italian archer, third seed Laura Turello, would complete the podium sweep for one of the barebow divisions’ strongest nations.

The barebow men’s final could have been in the youth division. Despite Leo Pettersson being 18 years of age and his contender for gold, Ollie Hicks, just 15, both had opted to shoot for the senior title in Lasko. When they took the top two spots in qualifying on Tuesday that decision quickly looked like a good one.

Petersson looked like he’d walk the match early but, three sets in, Hicks shot a perfect 30 to reclaim ground.

It would ultimately come down to a crucial fifth set, which ended tied on 29 points piece as both finished their campaigns in Slovenia with nines, that would see the young Swede take gold, six set points to four. 

Recurve

France’s Lisa Barbelin gave her signature jump of joy after defeating Vanessa Landi, 6-4, in the recurve women’s final. The French archer, who unified the European indoor and outdoor titles with the win, had scored three perfect sets in her straight-set quarterfinal win over Denisa Barankova, who was incidentally one of the archers that she beat on her way to continental gold outdoors last year in Turkey.

“I’m really, really happy,” said Barbelin. “It was a really good match. To be here, shoot really good and to hear the national anthem was incredible.”

Relatively unknown prior to the pandemic, the 21-year-old has quickly established herself as one of the world’s best.

With the women’s gold medal from Lasko going to French hands, it was confirmed it would be joining the recurve men’s title – the last match of the championship schedule – which was an all-France line-up. Clement Jacquey, seeded ninth after qualifying, beat teammate Jean-Charles Valladont, 6-2. Valladont had started with a perfect 30 against Jacquey’s 29 to take the first set, but Jacquey didn’t miss the middle with his next nine arrows to claim victory. 

“It’s my first senior competition and you always come to competitions to win medals but it is not always the case,” said Jacquey. “I’m very happy to have this gold medal for France and for me.”

Jacquey had seen off the Olympic silver medallist from Tokyo, top seed Mauro Nespoli, in the quarterfinal via a shoot-off – and had then scored four perfect sets in a second-round win. 

Compound

World number 13, Ella Gibson the individual runner-up at the European outdoor championships last year, took gold in the compound women’s event, dispatching top-seeded Elizaveta Knyazeva in the final, 143-141. 

“Honestly, it’s amazing. It feels like a really long time coming for me to be on the top of that podium,” said Gibson after climbing the podium. “It felt incredible, it made me quite emotional which is pretty unusual for me. I’ve seen our flag in the other two positions so many times it was a truly great feeling to see our flag in the middle and knowing that I put it there.”

Gibson scored sixth during qualification with 585 but opened matchplay with a perfect 150, setting up an eventual run at the title.

“I had a really rough qualifier that I struggled a lot in and I wasn’t feeling very strong from being unwell the previous week. That was a real struggle and showed in my score and position,” she explained. “For the matches, I made sure I gave myself as much rest and practice as I needed and did a lot of match practice and simulation every day this week as well as just telling myself that I am strong enough and I am in control.”

Mike Schloesser led the compound men’s event from start to finish in Lasko. 

He qualified top with 599, one point off his perfect world record, and averaged 149 points a match, which is the score he beat Jean Philippe Boulch with to seal the European title. “I was really nervous but still kept them in the middle,” said Schloesser.

The recently-crowned champion of the Indoor Archery World Series, Nicolas Girard, took bronze.

European indoor champions: Lasko 2022

• Recurve men: Clement Jacquey, France
• Recurve women:  Lisa Barbelin, France
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands
• Compound women: Ella Gibson, Great Britain
• Barebow men: Leo Pettersson, Sweden
• Barebow women: Cinzia Noziglia, Italy

Continental youth titles were awarded at the same event.

• Recurve men (under-21): Oleksander Kryvoruchko, Russia
• Recurve women (under-21): Dzvenyslava Chernyk, Ukraine
• Compound men (under-21): Mathias Fullerton, Denmark
• Compound women (under-21): Arina Cherkezova, Russia
• Barebow men (under-21): Davide Morra, Italy
• Barebow women (under-21): Elena Topliceanu, Romania

Medal table: Lasko 2022

1.  Ukraine: 6 (4 gold, 2 silver)
2.  Italy: 12 (3 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze)
3.  Russia: 12 (3 gold, 3 silver, 6 bronze)
4.  France: 6 (3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
=5.  Netherlands: 2 (2 gold)
=5.  Denmark: 2 (2 gold)
=5.  Sweden: 2 (2 gold)

Athletes representing 17 countries collected medals in Lasko.