Great Britain puts two athletes into individual last 16 as lightning closes venue

Great Britain’s Megan Havers and Tom Hall made the last 16 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, putting out two host nation archers on the way.

None of the British team had put in an impressive qualification, and both men’s and women’s teams had gone out in the first round on Sunday and Monday.

But the three appearing in the evening session all shot matches that belied their ranking. Conor Hall put out Rio 2016 silver medallist Jean-Charles Valladont in his first round, while Tom Hall pushed out veteran Indian archer Tarundeep Rai. 

The two Halls (despite their matching surnames, they are unrelated) then faced each other in a high-quality match that went to a shoot-off. The elder Hall, Tom, won it with a 10. 

“To get to the last 16 was a big incentive,” said Tom. “I saw the draw after I qualified and I was gutted. We were both just stoked to actually go out there and make it a real exhibition.”

“There’s not many people I’d be happy to see advance instead of me. But I had to put that to one side.”

Havers, only 16 years old and seeded 49th of 64, got past the much more experienced Elia Canales and the host nation’s Amélie Cordeau – the latter in a brilliant tie-break. Shooting second, in an arena packed with French fans, she drilled an almost perfect 10.

“I have so many emotions through me right now,” Havers said afterwards. “I want to cry. I want to yell, I want to hug people.” 

“But yeah, it’s absolutely amazing. Did I ever imagine this would happen? No.”

Having two athletes in the last 16 of the individual competition is an improvement on Britain’s performance at Tokyo 2020 where just a single athlete, Bryony Pitman, made that round.

“We showed what British archery can be like,” said Conor afterwards. “We didn’t really show it in the team round.”

“But we came out there today and we put on an exhibition of British archery and how good it can be. I think the only way is up for us at the minute.”

Three other British athletes: Pitman, Penny Healey and Alex Wise are set to compete tomorrow. 

After the conclusion of Havers’ match, the evening session had to be abandoned shortly after 19h00 with a storm brewing and lightning predicted to strike close by.

(The archery qualification days at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were also disrupted by a dangerous weather event.)

It left a block of six men’s and women’s matches to be rescheduled, including the first individual appearance from Tokyo double gold medallist Kim Je Deok.

The competition continues tomorrow, Thursday 1 August.