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Six countries add Olympic spots after European individual qualifier

6 May 2024

Essen, Germany

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Steve Wijler and Senna Roos faced each other in the gold medal match at the continental qualifier.

Steve Wijler (Netherlands), Ziga Ravnikar (Slovenia) and Mykhailo Usach (Ukraine) won recurve men’s tickets to Paris 2024 this afternoon in Essen, joining the recurve women from Austria, Estonia and Ukraine who booked Olympics tickets in the morning.

Dutch archers controlled the men’s bracket and controlled the day.

After Wijler won the opening quarterfinal match, Ravnikar beat Slovenian teammate Den Habjan and Usach shocked world number three (and defending Olympic silver medallist Mauro Nespoli. It left Senna Roos in control of several archers’ destinies.

“Today I just became the number one Netherlands fan I guess,” said Ravnikar.

Second-seed Roos crumbled in regulation against Conor Hall – but in the tiebreak, he found his centre… and the centre. The shoot-off maximum, eliminating the Brit, meant he would survive in the tournament and that both Ravnikar and Usach would secure Olympic spots for Slovenia and Ukraine.

(Nations could win a maximum of one spot in this event. Two Dutch archers in the final four meant only three countries remained.)

The quarterfinal matches were critical, too. Although archers win quota places for their countries rather than qualifying personally, at this late stage many nations assign spots to the athletes that secure them.

“It was a hard match between me and Den, but it’s me who won in the end,” said Ravnikar.

Mykhailo Usach shooting for third place in Essen continental qualifier.

The day would end with an all-Dutch final between Wijler and Roos.

Steve is already an Olympic medallist, having taken mixed team silver with Gaby Schloesser at the last Games – when the pairs event was introduced.

He staked his claim on a return to the big dance with a clean win over Roos in the final, 6-2.

“I feel super satisfied of course, the Olympic quota was our main objective, and the moment Senna won his match, we knew it was in,” said gold medallist Wijler. “I’m happy that we got it.”

“It’s always very difficult to win these kinds of matches. Yesterday, we were in a kind of a rhythm and today we had to start all over again.”

The Dutch archers will return to the field later this week – not as opponents but in an attempt to upgrade the individual spot to a team quota as winners of the European Archery Championships.

Competition in Essen continues with qualifying for that event on Wednesday.

Coverage of the weekend’s finals is available to watch worldwide with a subscription to archery+.