Essen hosts European Champs, penultimate shot at Olympic quotas

Germany hosts a major international for the third time in three years next week.

The European Championships were in Munich two years ago, the worlds were in Berlin last season and the Europeans are back in 2024 – this time visiting the Rine-Rühr area and the industrial city of Essen.

Twelve tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are available across the championships and continental individual qualifier, which takes place immediately before.

While the battle for quotas will be fierce across both genders, it’s particularly tight in the men’s event. Italy, the Netherlands and Great Britain are among the countries competing in the individual qualifier. With only three spots available and a total of 31 eligible nationals participating, it’s unlikely all these heavy hitters will be qualified come the end of the day on Monday.

The German recurve women are the reigning team world champions. There’s plenty of domestic expectation – and attention – leading into this competition.

Watch live coverage with a subscription to archery+.

Event schedule

The individual qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games:

• Sunday 5 May: Qualification and eliminations
• Monday 6 May: Finals

The 2024 European Archery Championships:

• Wednesday 8 May: Qualification
• Thursday 9 May: Eliminations
• Friday 10 May: Eliminations
• Saturday 11 May: Compound finals
• Sunday 12 May: Recurve finals

Defending champions

See full results from the Munich 2022 European Championships.

• Recurve men: Miguel Alvarino Garcia, Spain (not returning)
• Recurve women: Gulnaz Coskun, Türkiye (not returning)
• Recurve teams: Italy (men), Germany (women) and the Netherlands (mixed)
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands
• Compound women: Isabelle Carpenter, Great Britain (not returning)
• Compound teams: Türkiye (men), Great Britain (women) and Denmark (mixed)

How to watch

Watch live coverage with broadcast partners including ZDF (Germany), L’Equipe (France), POLSAT (Poland), BeIN (MENA), Rai (Italy), TRT (Türkiye), NOS (Netherlands),  SPOTV (Southeast Asia) and Eurosport, and worldwide with a subscription to archery+*.

*The recurve finals on Sunday 12 May will not be available to view live on archery+ in Germany only as they are being streamed by ZDF. They will be available to view on demand afterwards.

Live scores will be available on the World Archery website and there will be coverage on World Archery’s digital platforms throughout the competition. Check Facebook, Instagram and X for more.

Olympic qualifying

The following countries in Europe have already qualified at least one Olympic quota:

• Czech Republic: 1 (1 woman)
• France: 6 (3 men, 3 women)
• Germany: 4 (1 man, 3 women)
• Great Britain: 1 (1 woman)
• Italy: 1 (1 woman)
• Spain: 2 (1 man, 1 woman)
• Türkiye: 3 (3 men)

There are 12 quota places for the next Olympic Games available in Essen.

Six places will be awarded in the standalone qualification event, three per gender. Each country can win a maximum of one space. Countries that have already won a spot are not eligible to compete. Archers from the following nations are participating.

• Recurve men: Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.
• Recurve women: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Georgia, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and Ukraine.

Six places will be awarded to the two team winners at the European Championships.

If the French recurve men or women, German women or Turkish men win gold, the places will be reallocated down to the second-place team (and so on). If two countries that have already won team tickets make the final, then the bronze medal match will award the Olympic quota.

If a nation that already has an individual quota upgrades to a team ticket, then that individual place will be returned and reassigned according to the reallocation process.

Who’s competing?

These are the top-ranked archers competing in the Olympic qualifier:

• Recurve men: Mauro Nespoli, Italy (world rank: 3)
• Recurve women: Denisa Barankova, Slovakia (world rank: 27)

These are the top-ranked archers competing the European Championships.

• Recurve men: Mauro Nespoli, Italy (world rank: 3)
• Recurve women: Marie Horackova, Czech Republic (world rank: 4)
• Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands (world rank: 1)
• Compound women: Ella Gibson, Great Britain (world rank: 1)

A total of 290 archers (91 recurve men, 81 recurve women, 71 compound men and 47 compound women) from the national teams of the following 38 countries are competing at these championships: Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and Ukraine.

Competition in Essen begins on Sunday. Watch live coverage with a subscription to archery+.