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Gibson named best archer of 2022; barebower Noziglia is runner-up

5 May 2023

Lausanne, Switzerland

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British world number one Ella Gibson was announced as the best archer of 2022 during the preshow streamed live ahead of finals at the first stage of the 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Antalya, Türkiye.

The 22-year-old won all three stages of the international circuit in which she competed last year, took gold at the World Games and finished runner-up at her first Hyundai Archery World Cup Final to all-world peer Sara Lopez. Gibson was confirmed as winner of the compound women’s category award and the overall trophy – which was presented for the first time in a decade.

“I will always remember it. It was just an amazing year,” said Ella after being told of the achievement. “Of course, winning the World Cup Final would have been the cherry on the cake, but if I’d done that where was there to go?”

“I had no idea and I didn’t expect this at all. Thank you and thanks to everyone who voted.”

Members of the public, the executive board and a panel of archery journalists voted for the category awards from shortlists on the WorldArcheryAwards.com minisite. (The winners of all of those are below.) The overall award was selected only by journalists – and there were no nominees. Voters were simply asked to name the best and second best archers on the year.

Sixteen athletes received votes and Gibson was the clear favourite – but the runner-up was something of a shock.

Ella Gibson and Cinzia Noziglia at the World Games in 2022.

Athlete awards are presented to the four individual championship categories on the international circuit – recurve men, recurve women, compound men and compound women – as well as para men and women.

There’s no award category for barebow archers. But it was renowned Italian barebow archer Cinzia Noziglia who finished runner-up for the overall trophy after voting.

The 38-year-old achieved an historic triple in 2022, winning the World Games, the World Archery Field Championships and the World Archery 3D Championships all in the same year. It’s a first-time feat, not least because the three events were held in the same year for the first time due to scheduling delays caused by the pandemic.

“It’s amazing. Everything is beautiful,” Noziglia said after taking the field crown last October.

Accruing so many votes in this wide-open award is stark evidence of the respect put on Cinzia’s name after her recent run of results – and it’s significant.

Matt Stutzman won the para men’s category award for the first time in his career after winning his first world title in early 2022. He’s the fourth man from the US to collect that trophy.

Gibson’s compound women’s award broke Lopez’s hold on the trophy, which stretched back to 2015.

Mike Schloesser retained the compound men’s trophy, which he has held since 2018, while Olympic Champion An San was named recurve woman of the year for the second consecutive season.