Marie Horackova finally reaches World Cup last four -

Marie Horackova ticked off a much-needed box as she recovered from a set down to reach the recurve women final four at Madrid 2026 – stage four of the Archery World Cup.

Horackova, already one of Czechia’s most accomplished ever archers as the country’s sole World champion, had staggeringly never got into a final four of a World Cup despite being one of the top archers in recent years with her success in Berlin 2023 and as the current European recurve women record holder.

Today would see the 28-year-old archer’s fortunes change though as she fought back from a disappointing 24 score in the first set to beat the Essen 2024 European champion Katharina Bauer 6-2, her next three ends being 29, 28, 29.

“It’s been an amazing feeling to finally, finally get it,” said Horackova, who embraced boyfriend and fellow Czech archer Adam Li and the rest of the excited Czechia team after her result was confirmed at the Vallehermoso Stadium. “I’m very happy, more about the job I did today because when you shoot the qualification and you end up in the top eight, especially in second place, you have the door very open to reach the semis.”

“But still, the journey is very hard because there are so many very good archers. I had quite difficult matches, but I’m very happy that I kept myself in the process and didn’t let the desire for the result catch me.”

“I had patience, not just for winning, because you still have to stay in the process and shoot good arrows. Also, it was nice weather here because we didn’t have much wind today.”

“For the heat, we are almost used to it at this point. I don’t know what else to say. I’m just very happy.”

It is a wonder how Horackova had never reached this stage before today in 20 attempts at archery’s premier international circuit.

Whether she has won medals or not, the two-time Olympian is consistently one of the top performers in ranking rounds at 70 metres, field and indoor competitions since her breakout moment in Berlin three years ago.

In 2026 for example, she has been the top seed in three of the five competitions she’s entered – Spring Arrows [silver], European Outdoor Championships 2026, Veronica’s Cup [gold] – and was only two points behind Li Jiaman [673] on Wednesday’s qualification [671] to be second seed.

Getting over the line in matches, however, has been her Achilles’ heel thus far in World Cups, with too much mental pressure at qualification venues being the problem, more nerve-wracking than shooting in front of potentially hundreds in finals she revealed.

Who knows how she would’ve coped therefore with the plentiful support Elia Canales and Andres Temiño Mediel received yesterday from the home Spanish fans when they made it into the recurve mixed team gold medal match.

“I want to prepare for Sunday because fighting here on the main field is more difficult for me than at the finals. I love shooting on the podium.”

“I really love it. I enjoy the show, I enjoy the crowds, and I’m so happy that I have some people around who are cheering.”

“I think I was missing just one little thing to get through the eliminations and reach the semis. Maybe it was just the fear of winning.”

“So this is what kept me in the tunnel, focusing on my shooting and shooting good arrows,” she concluded.

Horackova’s confidence in herself as a big-game player will get pushed to the test on Sunday when she faces Korea’s Oh Yejin at Complutense National Stadium, which hosts the compound finals tomorrow first.

Ella Gibson reaches her tenth World Cup semi-final

Ella Gibson has made sure to leave her best of the season until last as she confirmed her second appearance at the finals venue by getting into the compound women final four.

It comes a day after she and Ajay Scott booked themselves into the compound mixed team final against Mexico, and her individual appearance is her tenth World Cup stage semifinal at 26 years of age.

Chinese Taipei’s Chen Yi-Hsuan was who stood in the the Vegas Shoot champion’s way, Gibson overcoming her by 144-140 – a four-point gap, a stark difference in today’s quality in the discipline – with Chen not executing one perfect 30 set whilst the Brit managed two despite the wind which picked up as the afternoon wore on at Vallehermoso Stadium.

It was Gibson’s match against compound women all-time great Sara Lopez, however, in the 1/8 round that unsurprisingly proved to be her tightest contest, one that swung back and forth with the lead changing between ends.

Down one point though at 118-117, the nine-time World Cup victor dropped a nine whilst Gibson shot two Xs and a 10 to take it to a shoot-off.

“I knew that would be a hard one,” said Gibson, who now has two wins against Lopez in five individual attempts. “I knew she would’ve really wanted to beat me. I know we have plenty of history so I was kind of prepared for that to be difficult.”

“I took an early lead and then I did lose it and I went into the last end kind of expecting her to shoot three 10s. I was just kind of going with, ‘I’m going to shoot my shots and leave it up to you whether I win or not.’”

“We ended up in a shoot-off and then shot our arrows in almost identical places. I won that by like a shaft so I shot some really good arrows at important moments, but I definitely wasn’t perfect today so in that sense, I slightly got away with it, but also I think I was just in a better headspace to compete today and handle not the best shots better.”

With one guaranteed medal and two matches to get another, Madrid has turned out to be Gibson’s best World Cup of the season.

Whilst still seeding highly in qualification in all four, the closest she came to a podium was the quarterfinals in Antalya [stage three], losing to the eventual bronze medallist Arina Cherkezova.

Bronze a couple of weeks before then – also in Antalya at the European Outdoor Championships – has been her best result since transitioning from indoors into 50 metres shooting this summer, but visibly her early exits have hinted she has been far from satisfied with the result.

Even yesterday Gibson played down her contributions for Great Britain, laying a lot of the credit on Scott.

As humble as she has been this week though, it is only her on the shooting line at the end of the day, and the pressure of wanting to guarantee a spot in Saltillo – the location for the 2026 Final – she felt gave her the necessary kick, in addition to some technical tweaks.

“I changed my arrow recipe before the European Championship, and that gave me a lot more forgiving setup. I think I was just a little bit too stiff in my arrows, so that helped a lot.”

“But also sometimes just having to do it,” she added when asked on the differences of Madrid. “Going like, if you don’t perform this week, you’ll not be making the World Cup Final and it’s just that simple.”

“I haven’t missed it since I first went and I want to keep that going. Of course, I want to win a medal since the change in the results last year. I’d really love to get a gold at some point.”

Tomorrow afternoon Gibson can get one step closer to Saltillo, but her focus will also be on the mixed team final, which is in the morning at the Complutense National Stadium as are all compound team gold medal matches.

Final fours: Madrid 2026

Compound men

Semifinal: Simon Moritz (Germany) versus Mike Schloesser (Netherlands)
Semifinal: Pablo Gomez Zuluaga (Colombia) versus Chen Chieh-Lun (Chinese Taipei)

Compound women

Semifinal: Ella Gibson (Great Britain) versus Hazal Burun (Türkiye)
Semifinal: Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh (Great Britain) versus Prithika Pradeep (India)