GBR: BACK TO NUMBER ONE
There’s something in the water in Cirencester
Two GBR archers have taken the number one spots in the world rankings in July 2022. Ella Gibson became the world number one compound woman following her victory in Birmingham, Alabama at the World Games (see page 43 for more details). Similarly, Phoebe Paterson Pine, the Paralympic champion, is now ranked as number one in the world in the women’s compound open category. Somewhat improbably, both women are from Cirencester in Gloucestershire, and both learned their craft at Deer Park Archers.
Gibson, just 22, secured the top spot after winning gold at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, beating Colombia’s Sara López, the then world number one, in the compound women’s individual final.
Prior to the competition, Gibson was ranked as number two in the world, just
3.5 points behind López, who had spent a record 1,445 non-consecutive days in the top spot, and is widely regarded as the greatest women’s compound archer of all time. She followed this in Medellín with another last-four victory over López in the World Cup, taking an unprecedented third World Cup title out of four. This was on top of her first big win individually on the international stage when she took gold and the compound women European Indoor Champion title in Slovenia back in February.
On this latest achievement, Gibson said, “It feels super surreal right now. I planned on it and knew I would get there but didn’t think it would happen so soon or this year, so that is definitely unexpected for me.
“We walked off the stage and my coach Simon [Scott] hugged me and told me that I was world number one because he had done all the maths... I don’t quite feel that I can say I’m the best in the world or world number one, but one day I will. For now, I’ll just concentrate on taking one step at a time.”
Taking first place in the world rankings and gold at the 2022 World Games are just the latest achievements in an exceptional year so far for Gibson. June’s Paris 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup Stage 3 competition saw her secure multiple medals, including gold in the individual women’s compound matches. She was also part of the silver-medal winning compound team, alongside Layla Annison and Liz Foster in the Compound Women’s Team event, and also took bronze in the Compound Mixed Team event with Adam Carpenter.
Last month’s European Championships in Munich also saw Gibson and her teammates, Izzy Carpenter and Jessica Stretton (who won Paralympic gold in Rio in 2016) win gold in the women’s compound team competition.
Earlier this month, Phoebe “Triple P” Paterson Pine, the reigning Paralympic champion, secured the individual compound women’s open gold in the first leg of the Para Archery European Cup in Nové Město, Czech Republic. She also took top honours in the compound women open team event with Jessica Stretton (who won gold at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio) and bronze in compound open mixed team competition with fellow GB archer Jamie Harris.
On her wins in Nové Město and taking the top spot in world rankings, Paterson Pine said, “This is my first time ever winning three medals across the three events that are available, so it’s pretty surreal to me right now. I’m proud to have been able to win individually, I’ve worked really hard on my individual game, and it’s finally beginning to show!
“Being world number one is something I’ve always wanted to achieve. This year has been exceptionally successful with winning bronze at the world championships and then going on to do so well in the Czech Republic as well, both have made it possible for me to boost my world ranking points and I hope to keep the spot for a while yet!”
“The next world-ranking event I have is the European championships. So right now I’m working hard to maintain my level of performance or improve it, and hopefully get some more points in the bag.”
On the latest achievements for GB’S archers and the successful year to date, Neil Armitage, CEO of Archery GB, said, “It’s absolutely fantastic to see two of our archers take the top spots in world rankings at the same time. It’s been an exceptional year so far and it’s wonderful not only to see our archers securing medals at a wide range of international competitions, but also putting the inclusivity of archery into practice on the world stage.”
“We are excited by the young talent in our developing squad and in August we will be holding the European Youth Archery Championships at Lilleshall, which is a great opportunity for us to showcase everything that is so inclusive, diverse and exciting about our sport.”
Read our exclusive interview with Ella Gibson in the previous issue, Bow 161. We also did an interview with Phoebe Paterson Pine after her Paralympic win in 2021, you can read that in issue 154.