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Valencia and Korean trio progress to recurve women’s last eight in Berlin

3 August 2023

Berlin, Germany

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Alejandra Valencia into elite eight at worlds.

Number one seed Alejandra Valencia kept her recurve women’s individual medal hopes alive by advancing to the quarterfinals while Korean trio An San, Kang Chae Young and Lim Sihyeon bounced back from their shock team exit to join her in the last eight of the 2023 Hyundai World Archery Championships.

Valencia beat Romanian Madalina Amaistroaie in a tight 6-4 head-to-head after another 6-4 victory over Caroline Lopez in her first round of the day.

“She shot really well with the wind,” Valencia said of opponent Amaistroaie. “She played the guessing game with it better than me and seemed to adjust better than me but at the end I also wanted to win.”

The 28-year-old, ranked 14th in the world, battled hard as conditions proved difficult for all archers in the morning session.

“I feel really good with the work that I did specially because of the wind. I feel like I stayed stable, I didn’t let myself go or stayed fighting with the wind, I simply trusted myself. There were always items that I missed or that I overdid but in general terms I feel I did things right.”

She will face Japan’s Sugimoto Tomomi, who won all five rounds of the morning session to book her place in the quarterfinals on Sunday.

“Sunday will be a brand-new day and brand-new place,” the Mexican added.

“What happened here is not necessarily going to be repeated so on that same day I will analyse what’s happening and depending on that, I will do what I have to.”

As some struggled in the wind, Lim Sihyeon revelled in conditions which made the number two seed’s 6-0 victory against Gaby Schloesser even sweeter.

“The wind is just crazy, I’ve been shooting arrows that I never imagined I’d be shooting,” said the 20-year-old, who has won gold in her last two Hyundai Archery World Cup events. “Overall I’m just having a really good time.”

“I just tried to keep my timing really short. I picked an aiming point and stuck with it.”

“I just want to do everything that I did today and I want the wind to blow even stronger because I think that will be a lot more fun.”

Elsewhere, Olympic champion An San, who also earned World Archery Championship bronze in Yankton two years ago, knocked out Spain’s Elia Canales in a dramatic shoot-off to advance to the quarterfinals where she will take on American Casey Kaufhold.

Kaufhold cut short world number one Penny Healey’s campaign, picking up a 6-2 victory against the British fifth seed.

“I feel really good about the win,” the US archer said. “I walked into today knowing that if I shoot my shot in this field, no question I’ll be in the final so I just went out there and did what I know I could do.”

The last time she shot an individual match in the finals arena was at the world championships on home soil two years ago, and she’s been struggling individually since then.

“I’m just so grateful and so happy,” Kaufhold said. “I just want to carry that into the finals and keep shooting good shots like I shot today.”

Competition continues with team finals on Friday in Berlin.