Germany opens mixed team door at Olympics

Two strong individual performances from Germany’s Florian Unruh and Michelle Kroppen have placed them as second seeds behind Korea in the mixed team competition, as well as placing them as third and seventh individual seeds respectively.

Unruh split the Korean men at the top of the table along with Dhiraj Bommadevara, with a 681.

“It was better than expected, yeah,” he said. “For this wind, 681 is really good, in my opinion.” 

“The expectations haven’t changed, but it’s way easier than in Tokyo where the second round I had to shoot against Kim.”

“So this time, not such a big opponent in the first matches, but on the other hand, everybody can shoot good so it will be tough as well. Shoot as good as I can and hope for the best.”

Unruh had an strong run in Tokyo 2020 where he came agonisingly close to the last four after beating top qualifier Kim Je Deok in the second round, falling to the eventual silver medallist Mauro Nespoli.

Kroppen shot a personal best of 670.

“I feel really really good,” the 28-year-old said after the ranking round. “I mean this season was not easy for me. I nearly didn’t make it here but today my personal best, and my season’s best. It gives me some power for the next days.”

“I started to just be brave and not thinking about everything that is around me. So a 670 and a top eight position at the Games is really really nice.”

The country’s best international mixed team performance recently was a gold medal on home soil at the Essen 2024 European Archery Championships, following a silver medal, also on home turf, at the Berlin 2023 Hyundai World Archery Championships.

“We saw a really good performance from Florian and Michelle in their qualification,” head coach Oliver Haidn said. “I’m looking forward with a very good feeling, because they have much experience and they’re in good form. They can work very well together.”

“The matches will be very close, because in the mixed we all know it is only four arrows per set. But we have practiced the situation before in many training sessions."

The mixed team seeding for Germany is a demonstration of how the event opens up a different pathway to an Olympic medal.

Germany have won medals in archery at the last two Olympics, with Lisa Unruh taking individual silver at Rio 2016 and the women’s team taking bronze at Tokyo 2020.

The mixed team finals take place on Friday 2 August.