Austria, Estonia and Türkiye win women’s Olympic spots in Essen

Elisabeth Straka (Austria), Reena Parnat (Estonia) and Elif Berra Gokkir (Türkiye) filled the recurve women’s podium at the European qualifier for Paris 2024 in Essen this morning, securing Olympic quota places for their countries.

Second-seeded Straka powered her way through her matches and beat Parnat in the final, losing just two sets in the bracket.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Straka, whose straight-set semifinal win over Dutch archer Quinty Roeffen locked in the quota place. “My strength is to become stronger when I need to be stronger and I’m just so happy that everything came true as I wanted.”

The 24-year-old has simply delivered at a world-class level, when necessary, in this event.

Her per-arrow average won’t be impressive. There were wayward shots. But (almost) every time she needed a set winner, she delivered.

“For many, many years I’ve worked for this. Normally dreams don’t come true, but this is real and I’m so happy to represent Austria in Paris.”

Thirty-year-old Parnat became the first Estonian woman to compete in an archery competition at the Olympics in London, in 2012, when she was just 18. She became the first Estonian archer to win a match at the Olympics in 2021 – beating Denisa Barankova in the first round – and now will become Estonia’s first three-time Olympian archer in Paris.

The third and last individual quota place was awarded in the third-place match.

Number one seed Gokkir faced Roeffen, the under-21 winner of the last indoor circuit in the under-21 age group – and a promising vector in the Dutch recurve women’s team.

Their match was a thriller.

Gokkir was ahead, 4-0, then 5-1 – before Roeffen fought back, eventually (just) forcing a shoot-off with her final shot in regulation. But the 17-year-old Turkish archer’s opportunity to take to the line first in the shoot-off was decisive.

She had the first attempt. She shot middle – and a good 10, too.

Roeffen couldn’t beat it and Türkiye, who had already qualified a full recurve men‘s team at the last world championships against all odds, now has a woman – and a mixed team – in Paris, too.

“I am happy, I am proud of myself and I’m happy for the quota,” said Gokkir. “It wasn’t over for me. I’m still shooting, and I shot like myself, and I won the match.”

“We want to get the quota for the team, the women’s team, and we will still continue.”

Competition continues in Essen with the European Championships, which begin with qualifying on Wednesday. Six more Olympic quota places will be awarded to the men’s and women’s champions.

Podium: Recurve women

1. Elisabeth Straka, Austria (Olympic quota)
2. Reena Parnat, Estonia (Olympic quota)
3. Elif Gokkir, Türkiye (Olympic quota)