16-year-old Laura van der Winkel wins Dutch nationals

Pictures via Tim Buitenhuis.

Sixteen-year-old Laura van der Winkel, who took a surprise win at the Kings of Archery tournament at the end of 2017, won a junior silver medal and became Dutch recurve women’s senior champion at the Netherlands national indoor championships on 28 January.

“I feel a bit lousy about the gold final in the juniors because my nerves interfered with my shooting. In the adult final, though, I was really surprised to win; I certainly didn’t expect it,” said Laura. “I am super happy with my first place!”

Van der Winkel has competed in one European youth event but has not yet made her international debut. With 22 years having passed since the Netherlands had its last recurve woman compete at the Olympic Games, at Atlanta 1996, Laura’s progress will be watched intently.

The 2018 Dutch indoor championships took place in ’s-Hertogenbosch in the centre of the Netherlands, the same city that will host the World Archery Championships and World Archery Para Championships in 2019.

“I hope that I can qualify myself for those championships,” said van der Winkel. “And it would be super cool to go to the [Buenos Aires 2018] Youth Olympic Games in Argentina this year.”

Sjef van den Berg won the recurve men’s national title at the Dutch indoors, shooting four perfect sets to beat Rick van der Ven in the final.

Hareld Stas took compound men’s gold and Sanne de Laat was victorious in the compound women’s event.

The 2018 Dutch national indoor championships ran 27-28 January in Den Bosch, Netherlands.