Bauer bouncing back from Olympic disappointment and loving life

Katharina Bauer’s infectious smile has dominated the images of the German team on the Hyundai Archery World Cup circuit. 

It’s no wonder why.

The 26-year-old is in the form of her career, shooting her highest average arrow (9.10), her career-best qualification score (665) and a personal best in the world ranking of fourth.

It’s a long way from a year ago when there were no smiles after Bauer found herself out of contention for the German team travelling to Tokyo 2020 and battling the disappointment that came with it. That battle has since been won and opened up a world of possibilities.

“After I missed the Olympic Games last year, I lost the national qualification for it, I was really down. I was down on the floor, I was crying and had a really hard time,” said Bauer, who is in Medellin for the fourth stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup.

“I realised in this time that I’m not doing archery for any medals or any results. I just do it because I love it and I love doing it.”

“My mind is now free and I’m just enjoying everything,” she continued. “Yes, I was training really hard during the last years so now I benefit from my work for the last years and I have a clear mind because I don’t have anything to lose. It’s just easy.”

Freeing her mind has led to career highs – and the kind of progress that every elite archer is searching for.

In 2022, Bauer won individual bronze at stage one of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Antalya in April and then repeated the same at the European Archery Championships on home soil in Munich in June. She has also podiumed in multiple recurve women’s team events this year, including Hyundai Archery World Cup silver in Antalya and Gwangju (stage two), bronze in Paris (stage three) – plus the continental title in Munich.

And there was also that historic mixed team title in Korea.

Despite struggling to find her feet during practice in Colombia, Bauer delivered when it mattered. She shot a 665 to seed fourth in qualification. 

“I had some rough days, the last days," she said after the qualifying round in South America.

“I came here and didn’t get a real feeling for my shots so I had to train a lot the last two days. Maybe it was because of jetlag, or because of the long travel – we were travelling here for 26 hours – so maybe for my body, something different. I had to work on my shots in the training sessions. I’m happy that the qualification went well.”

Unpredictable winds have affected everyone on the line in Medellin but Bauer is confident in her ability to see her through nature’s obstacles on her way to another potential podium.

“It was difficult, really difficult because there were some heavy wind gusts and the wind changed direction,” she said. “You had to be really confident to just say, ‘okay, now I am on the left side, and I trust my shot and hope that the winds let the arrow fly in the middle’.”

“Because of the 180-second rule, it’s quite difficult. In the end, there may be just 20 seconds left for the last arrow and you have to shoot even if there is wind.”

Arriving in Medellin, Bauer sat fourth in the World Cup Ranking. She’s well-placed to book a ticket to her first Hyundai Archery World Cup Final on points this season. This week’s tournament in Colombia presents an opportunity to cement that opportunity – either with another strong finish, or by winning the thing outright.

“I’m not sure if I will go for gold,” she said. The winners in Medellin, last at every stage this season, collect direct tickets to Tlaxcala.

“I hope to win as many matches as possible. I just want to shoot good strong shots and stay with myself and try to be confident with myself and we’ll see which results will follow. I just try to focus on myself, on my shots. I can’t influence the results of others or anything. I just have to do my thing and see if it’s enough to go to the World Cup Final or a gold final here.”

“If my shots are good, I'm sure the results can be good, too.”

Competition continues for Bauer in Medellin with recurve eliminations on Friday afternoon.