Alessandro Paoli wins thrilling maiden gold medal in Swiss Open Lausanne

Alessandro Paoli ended his search for a maiden international gold medal as he defeated Romain Fichet in a shoot-off at the Swiss Open in Lausanne, the first stage of the 2024 Indoor World Series.

Silver medallist Fichet, who now has two international medals after winning silver in the Veronica’s Cup earlier this year, took Italian Paoli to a deciding sixth set after winning the fifth.

But the Frenchman’s valiant efforts, for what would have been his first taste of individual international gold, were ultimately in vain as Paoli’s deciding shot in the centre left of the 10-ring was a few centimetres closer to the all important X spot (centre of target).

“It’s been an amazing competition, an amazing victory,” said Paoli soon after his victory at the World Archery Excellence Centre where he won bronze in last year’s Lausanne Excellence Challenge. “He (Fichet) shot brilliantly. I had to fight hard to shoot all the arrows, especially in the final, because arrows in the final were harder than the other ones, but I’m happy.”

“I got scared on the last 10, but my coach behind told me just to relax and shoot a shot. So I did and that was a good 10. So it worked out.”

Paoli, 25, sailed through the tournament with relative ease as he failed to concede more than four set points prior the gold medal clash and started the day strongly having pipped reigning World Champion and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion Mete Gazoz to top seed position from the earlier qualifications, getting a score of 590 out of 60 arrows from the 18-metre distance. 

But he was made to work hard on Saturday evening against a 28-year-old Fichet who fought back after dropping a perfect 30 and 29 in the fourth and fifth sets to force the second shoot-off of the Swiss Open finals.

Without panicking though, the Paris 2024 Olympian stuck to his usual technique, his eyes closely following the arrow in his aiming process before quickly fleeting his eyes at the bow’s sight and firing the match-winning 10.

“At the moment, I’m not really sure about what the end of the season will bring for me,” Paoli added.

“I’m not sure because my main goal is the World Championships next September in Korea, and I want to focus on those competitions at 70 metres,” he responded when asked how he’s viewing the 2025 season.

The only other shoot-off of the evening was in the compound men’s gold medal match where the familiar faces of world class pair Mike Schloesser and Mathias Fullerton pulled off yet another demonstration of their quality, tying the match 148 a piece.

They dropped just four nines altogether.

2024 Hyundai World Cup Final runner-up Fullerton’s long hold though cost him in the shoot-off, hitting a wide nine allowing ‘Mister Perfect’ to live up to his name and retain the Lausanne gold medal. 

“I had very little practice in the indoors so just walking away with this big win here, it means a lot,” said world number one Schloesser. “I’m very happy on the equipment I chose for this tournament. I’m super stoked about it.”

Things were far less nail biting in the women’s finals, however, as Slovakian Denisa Barankova swept the top seed and Switzerland’s very own Olivia Doigo away with a 6-0 drubbing in the recurve women’s gold medal match, joining Schloesser in successfully defending her Lausanne crown.

Not long before in the compound women’s final, Estonia’s indoor specialist Lisell Jaatma convincingly topped an Indoor World Series stage podium for the fourth time in her career beating Giulia Di Nardo with a perfect score of 150.

The action doesn’t stop in the Olympic city of Lausanne, as the over-50 and under-21 matches take place on Sunday and the finals can be watch live on archery+.

Strassen, Luxembourg then hosts the second stage of the Indoor Archery World Series, the GT Open, on 15-17 November 2024.

Winners: Swiss Open Lausanne

• Recurve men: Alessandro Paoli, Italy
• Recurve women: Denisa Barankova, Slovakia
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands
• Compound women: Lisell Jaatma, Estonia