Arco, triumph at the European Games: Italy with six podiums and a pass for Paris 2024

First place in the medal table by Nations, six medals with 2 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronzes and the individual women’s Olympic pass conquered. Italy returns from Krakow and the European Games with a suitcase full of satisfactions, making a substantial contribution to the 100 medals that brought the Italia Team to the top of the event’s medal table. The only drawback is the lack of qualification for Paris 2024 for men, but the Azzurri will have the opportunity to make up for it at the Berlin World Cup in early August, when the cards for the teams will be up for grabs.

The team recurve medals

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To recount Italy’s archery exploits in Poland it is better to go in order and return to the second day of competitions in which, after the day dedicated to qualifying and the great emotion of seeing Mauro Nespoli as the standard-bearer, the Azzurri begin to get serious, above all after experiencing the disappointment of the exclusion of the mix made up of Nespoli and Andreoli in the round of 16 against Moldova, winning 5-1. An elimination that blew up the first chance of qualifying for the Games, which Spain then achieved by beating Ukraine 5-1 in the final. A gold medal that is also worth the ticket for men and women for the French capital. Saturday dedicated to teams sees Italy react immediately: Tatiana Andreoli, Lucilla Boari and Chiara Rebagliati advance up to the third step of the podium by beating Germany in comeback. The match didn’t go well, the Germans started strong and took it up 3-1, but the Azzurri overturned everything in the last two volleys, taking home the medal. Shortly after the showcase, Mauro Nespoli, Alessandro Paoli and Federico Musolesi take it and complete the work of a perfect match by winning the gold by dominating the final against Spain. The final result is a 5-1 without appeals for the Iberians liquidated by the Italian trio in just three sets.

Bruno and Roner bronze

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On the other hand, the show by Marco Bruno and Elisa Roner begins on Sunday, absolute protagonists in the compound competitions. The two Azzurri in the mixed team took the bronze by beating Turkey 153-152 in the final and erasing the knockout with Denmark. The challenge to get on the podium is a demonstration of strength and concentration for the Azzurri who take the lead (38-37), keep it in the next four arrows (37-37) and then give the decisive acceleration (40-39), making the comeback attempt of the last set of the opponents in vain (39-38). For Italy it is also the first medal in this division in the history of the event. But that’s not all…

Rebagliati bronze and Olympic pass

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The following two days are those of the individual eliminations of the recurve with “Olympic pattern”, one match after another on the same targets, no simultaneity. Thus we arrive at the key moment of the European Games, the last two days of the program in which the recurve also takes the field for the Olympic passes. On Wednesday 28 May Italy celebrates together with Chiara Rebagliati who wins the bronze at the end of a long battle against the Ukrainian Pavlova which lasts until the fifth set in which the blue wins 27-26 and closes the accounts with 6- 4. The simultaneous final of the Spanish Canales, already qualified for Paris with the mixed team, is worth the individual pass for Italy.

Protagonist compound

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A moment of celebration that does not overshadow Elisa Roner’s feat which continues in her fairytale 2023. After the bronze in the first stage of the World Cup, the Kappa Kosmos archer wins the gold by beating the world No. 1 Ella Gibson in the final who also set the new world record on the qualifying day with 715 points out of 720 The British immediately took the lead (29-28), but Roner reacted by drawing the second set (28-28) and winning all the others 30-28, 29-27 and 30-27 by shooting eight of the last nine arrows on the “10 ”. The compounder thus confirms herself, despite her young age, in the cheek of the international compound. The next day to put the icing on the cake is still the compound with Marco Bruno who, after winning all the elimination fights, including the one in the quarterfinals against the world number one Mike Schloesser, only gives way in the final and takes home a splendid silver. The blue archer lost against the Slovak Joezef Bosansky, who arrived in Krakow in great shape after a gold medal in the World Cup. The blue holds up in the first set (28-28), then goes down in the second (30-29) and will no longer be able to recover because the opponent only leaves crumbs. The third volley still ends in a draw (29-29), the fourth goes to Bosansky (29-28) while Bruno tries to put pressure with a “30” but the opponent responds with three more arrows on the “10” and wins 146 -144. Shortly before, the unfortunate adventure of the blues with Mauro Nespoli and Alessandro Paoli had been interrupted, who in the individual competition failed to reach the final and therefore to take the Olympic pass. The former loses against the German Florian Unruh 6-2, the latter leaves the scene after a long challenge against the Dutch Wijler 6-4.

The other results

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As mentioned, no Italian archer has earned the podium in the men’s Olympics where in the end the gold goes to the neck of Nespoli’s executioner, Unruh who beats the Spanish Alvarino Garcia 6-2, the other Iberian Acha climbs on the third step of the podium after the 7-1 with the Moldovan Olaru. In the women’s category, the first step of the podium is British with Healey who beats the Spanish Canales 6-2, thus accompanying Chiara Rebagliati in the awards ceremony. In the compound, where Bosansky and Marco Bruno take the first two places, the bronze goes to the Turkish Haney, winning 149-146 over the Polish Przybylski. In the women Elisa Roner first, Ella Gibson second and Turkey still third with Burun after 146-138 on the Danish Gellenthien. In the team competitions of the recurve known as the blue men’s gold and the silver to Spain, the third place goes to Switzerland after the 6-2 trimmed to Holland. In the women’s category, Great Britain won 5-3 over France in the final, with Italy third. As far as mixed teams are concerned, in the recurve it is gold for Spain thanks to 5-1 over Ukraine, bronze for Germany 5-4 (19*-19) over Moldova. In the mixed team ahead of Italy there are Estonia and Denmark with the Estonian couple winning the challenge for the gold in the shoot off 156-156 (20-19).