The individual competition at the Winnipeg 2025 World Archery Youth Championships shot down to the final fours in each of the eight categories on Friday 22 August. Bronze and gold medal finals are scheduled for the weekend, with compound on Saturday and recurve on Sunday.
As well as the expected finals spots for Korea and Chinese Taipei, the dominant nations in youth recurve archery, exceptional performances came from Jai Crawley of Australia and Olympian Amélie Cordeau of France, both of whom put themselves into the under-21 finals alongside top seed Angela Ruiz of Mexico.
Mexico also secured a spot in the under-21 compound final, with Lot Máximo Méndez Ortiz set to face archers from Germany, Chinese Taipei and Israel in the last four tomorrow. India has two women in the under-18 compound semifinals: Prithika Pradeep and Surya Hamsini Madala.
Another international newcomer, 15-year-old Alex Sillitoe Price of Great Britain, will face archers from Ukraine and Korea in the recurve under-18 semifinals on Sunday. Hector McNeilly of New Zealand, top seed in the compound under-18 ranking round, will face archers from India, Chinese Taipei and Germany in the semifinals tomorrow.
“There’s a lot of preparation going into this, so it’s great to see a lot of hard work paying off,” said the 17-year-old. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
“Shooting in a big stadium is kind of the goal for every event, and being up there is a dream come true. I’m just going to shoot my best shots, and at the end of the day, I get the results I get,” he added.
As often happens in international competition, many of the best competitors will compete across team, mixed team and individual events. Kim Minjeong, competing in recurve under-18 for Korea, had a professional performance during a busy weekend for the 16-year-old.
“This day has been great,” she said. “Apart from the first match, I won all my matches 6-0 and didn’t give up many points to my opponents.”
“Going into the semifinals, I really just focused on one point of my technique and went in with a refreshed mindset. Then I had no doubt I’d be able to make it to the gold medal match.”
Minjeong will face India’s Sharvari Somnath Shende in the first individual semifinal on Sunday.
You can watch finals coverage from Winnipeg on 23-24 August with a subscription to archery+.
