The Italian squad walked away with 10 of 30 available medals from Terni 2015. It was a whole six more podium places than the nation’s nearest competitor, Sweden.
Cinzia Noziglia, Donatella Rizzi and Rossella Bertoglio, women’s champions in the barebow, longbow and instinctive categories, collected the host team’s three gold medals.
Italy was guaranteed gold in the longbow final as Rizzi shot against Giulia Barbaro, in a replay of the Latina 2009 gold medal match. Barbaro won in ’09, but lost in ’15, 33-24.
Another silver came in the corresponding men’s event, after Marco Pontremolesi lost out to Per Ivar Pahlm, from Norway, in their final.
Experienced Italian barebow man Giuseppe Seimandi added his silver after a protracted clash against Sebastian Juanola Codina. Seimandi was up after three targets, but couldn’t find the middle with his final arrow – and lost the gold medal match, 34-32.
Individual bronze medals in the barebow women’s, instinctive men’s and women’s events, via Luciana Pennacchi, Fabio Pittaluga and Iuana Bassi, respectively, and a silver-medal-winning women’s team brought Italy’s medal haul to 10.
Finland’s Anne Lantee won the compound women’s final and Nico Wiener, of Austria, beat Lantee’s teammate, Mika Rutonen, to the compound men’s crown.
The instinctive men’s crown went to Ferenc Molnar of Hungary.
Spain did the double in the team competitions, beating both defending champions to the men’s and women’s gold medals.
The Spaniards dispatched Denmark in the men’s final, 113-107, and Italy in the women’s.
President of the Terni 2015 organising committee, Stefano Tombesi, said the integrated archery village, in the heart of Terni, was a “great result for sport” as it put archery in the community spotlight.
World Archery First Vice President Mario Scarzella added that the event was “successful for the 3D archery movement” and that the athletes gave a “great demonstration of fair play and the values of sport”.
The next World Archery 3D Championships will be held in Robion, France in 2017.
