News

Olivia Dean: Lone US contender left in compound final fours

10 April 2025

Central Florida, USA

Real name:

Olivia Dean will make her Hyundai Archery World Cup final four debut this Saturday in Central Florida 2025, the opening stage of archery‘s premier international circuit.

At just 18, Dean is the only US archer qualified among the compound individuals. In the women’s field, Carson Krahe, Abigail Winterton and Alexis Ruiz all missed the cut, just as reigning Hyundai Archery World Cup Final Champion James Lutz, along with Sawyer Sullivan, Curtis Broadnax and Kris Schaff, were eliminated on the men’s side.

“It was definitely unexpected,” said the 2024 Vegas Shoot winner. “I know I’m capable of shooting that well, but I’ve been struggling a little bit with confidence recently, so to do it feels really good.”

“I just tried to focus on staying in the moment and shooting one arrow at a time.”

Despite qualifying in a relatively strong position as the 10th seed out of 31 entries on Tuesday, Dean was not at all satisfied with her performance across the 72-arrow round.

Rather than rest on her laurels, she returned to the shooting line to make adjustments to her bow, determined not to let her first circuit semifinal on home soil slip away.

Dean, who beat both teammate Krahe and European Indoor Champion Elisa Roner in shoot-offs, may not be the most vocal on the range but possesses a steely determination that has already taken her so far in her fast growing career.

Olivia Dean is only US contender in compound final fours line-up at Central Florida 2025.

The 18-year-old now has the opportunity to grab her second medal in Central Florida after helping the USA’s women capture bronze on Wednesday.

“I was in 10th, but it just felt like my shots weren‘t flowing exactly how they normally do. I was on the practice turns a lot trying to figure that out, and things just wouldn’t really click together for me.”

“I changed a little bit with my sight picture. I wasn’t seeing super clear like I normally want to, so I changed clarifiers a little bit, and I do think that helped, but I think it was mostly mental.”

Whilst Dean is the last American standing in the individual compound event, Mexico is guaranteed a medal, as Andrea Becerra and Mariana Bernal will face off in the semis – with Bernal making her World Cup stage debut this weekend upon her return to the Mexican national side not featuring at all in 2024.

“I felt more focused,” revealed Bernal, the under-18 world record holder for the 24-arrow team round. “The release? I’m a fan of punching, and now I’ve been practising on that, and I think it was reflected in these results.”

In the compound men’s individual competition, number one seed Sebastian Garcia continued his fine form at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex by beating Italy’s Michea Godano in a quarterfinal shoot-off.

The Mexican is set to face Asian Games silver medallist Abhishek Verma, while world number two Mathias Fullerton will go up against Chen Chieh-Lun – both of whom posted perfect scores of 150 on the day.

Competition in Central Florida continues with mixed team eliminations on Friday morning, followed by recurve eliminations in the afternoon.