India’s Prathamesh Bhalchandra Fuge, Aman Saini and Rishabh Yadav are young but experienced, with 16 collective World Cup appearances and strong form this season. Yadav, who set a world record in the mixed team event earlier this week, helped secure team bronze in Central Florida and gold in Shanghai earlier this year.
The USA team, too, featured reigning Archery World Cup Champion Lutz. But it was 34-year-old Boulch – a silver medallist at the Birmingham 2022 World Games – who led by example in Madrid’s scorching heat, shooting all eight of his arrows into the 10-ring during the semifinal against the USA.
It’s been more than a year since his last outdoor appearance, and a win on Saturday would mark a triumphant return for one of France’s most experienced compound archers.
Their opponent? Korea – who will look to extend their winning ways in compound, just as they’ve done so often in recurve. The two nations have met in several high-stakes matches recently, including the recurve men’s team finals at both Paris 2024 and Shanghai 2025 – both won by Korea.
Now, it’s the turn of the compound men.
“I think it’s a good team too, and we’ll see it in the gold medal match,” added Boulch, who last won World Cup gold in the team event at Medellin in 2022.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been in a final like this,” said Korea’s Kim Jongho, a compound men’s team world record holder. “We know each other well, so we’ll just try our best to win the gold.”
Korea also collected bronze in the compound women’s team event earlier on Wednesday
Competition in Madrid continues this afternoon with recurve qualifying.
