Preview: Antalya to host penultimate Olympic qualifier and Europeans

The Turkish coastal resort city of Antalya has been hosting international archery tournaments for decades.

Normally a consistent stop on the Hyundai Archery World Cup circuit, it is instead hosting the European Championships – another major event – in this Olympic year. (The competition was originally scheduled to take place in 2020.)

The European title is a coveted crown.

But for many of the recurve archers in Turkey next week, the event is of dual importance. It will not only award continental medals – which are often key to governmental funding – but also award eight quota places to Tokyo 2020, four for men and four for women. It’s not a big number, and there are many, many athletes fighting for those spots.

We’ve got an important week ahead of us.

Key information

What’s happening? The European Championships, plus Olympic continental qualifier, on 31 May-6 June 2021 in Antalya, Turkey.

What’s at stake? Continental champion titles and eight quota places (four men and four women) for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

What’s the story? Plenty of big-name countries arrive in Antalya without the Olympic quota places they covet, especially in the recurve men’s event. Much rests on the qualification tournament on Friday – including for the host nation, Turkey. European titles are important.

Schedule

• Tuesday 1 June: Qualification
• Wednesday 2 June: Mixed team eliminations
• Thursday 3 June: Individual and team eliminations
• Friday 4 June: Olympic qualification tournament
• Saturday 5 June: Compound finals
• Sunday 6 June: Recurve finals

How to watch

Broadcast coverage of the Olympic qualification and finals of the European Championships is being shown by TRT in Turkey, Match! in Russia, L’Equipe in France, Claro across Latin America and delayed on Eurosport. Internationally, the following sessions are being streamed on World Archery’s YouTube channel.

• Live: Olympic qualification – 4 June, starting at 14h00 TRT (local)
• Live: Compound team finals – 5 June, starting at 10h00 TRT (local)
• Live: Compound finals (individual and mixed team) – 5 June, starting at 14h00 TRT (local)
• Live: Recurve team finals – 6 June, starting at 10h00 TRT (local)
• Live: Recurve finals (individual and mixed team) – 6 June, starting at 14h00 TRT (local)

Live scores will be available on the World Archery website, and there will be coverage on World Archery’s digital platforms throughout the competition.

Mister Perfect

For all of the good things that Mike Schloesser has done in his career – including achieving the triple-crown of world titles (outdoor, indoor and field), winning the first compound gold at the European Games and taking two Hyundai Archery World Cup trophies – the European championship title has so far eluded him.

His former Dutch teammate Peter Elzinga, who now coaches on the Olympic squad, won it twice – in 2004 and 2014.

Schloesser recently regained the top spot in the compound men’s world rankings and has medalled at both stages of the Hyundai Archery World Cup so far this season, taking silver at the opener in Guatemala and winning the second leg in Lausanne.

Is this his year?

Tokyo 2020 qualification

There are eight quota places for the Olympics available in Antalya, four for recurve men and four for recurve women. The spots will be awarded in a dedicated tournament that will take place on Friday.

Who’s competing?

These are the defending European Champions:

• Recurve men: Steve Wijler, Netherlands
• Recurve women: Yasemin Anagoz, Turkey
• Compound men: Anton Bulaev, Russia (not competing)
• Compound women: Andrea Marcos, Spain

These are the top-ranked archers competing in Antalya:

• Recurve men: Mete Gazoz, Turkey (world rank: 2)
• Recurve women: Ksenia Perova, Russia (world rank: 5)
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands (world rank: 1)
• Compound women: Natalia Avdeeva, Russia (world rank: 1)

A total of 279 archers from the national teams of the following 40 countries are registered for this tournament: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

Competition at the European Championships starts with qualification on Tuesday in Antalya.