6 August 2023 Berlin, Germany
Outsider Marie Horackova sealed a stunning world title as she stormed to a 6-0 victory over Alejandra Valencia in the recurve women’s individual final of the 2023 Hyundai World Archery Championships in Berlin.
The 25-year-old made World Archery Championships history by claiming Czech Republic’s first-ever world title, winning all of her finals day matches 6-0.
She played a part in one of the shocks of the championships by knocking out Lim Sihyeon in the quarter-final, one of three Koreans including Olympic champion An San and Kang Chae Young who failed to secure their country an Olympic quota spot.It is the first time there has not been a Korean woman on the individual recurve podium since Turin 2011, with Korea relinquishing both its individual and team titles from two years ago and means it leaves Berlin without an Olympic quota place, after defeat to Indonesia in the last-16 of the women's team event on Wednesday.
The new world champion secured Czech Republic Olympic qualification for just the third time, alongside Japan’s bronze medallist Noda Satsuki and fourth-placed Casey Kaufhold of the USA.
Valencia had already earned Mexico a place at Paris 2024 after she took bronze in the team event – the silver medal is her first senior individual medal on the world stage.
“It was amazing, it was actually harder out in the qualification field,” Horackova said. “Here I just wanted to be happy shooting 10s and make everything good for myself so I was ready to shoot on the 10s no matter what happened so I am happy and it turned into gold.”
“My family is here. My dad is standing behind me as a coach for the full tournament, my sister came for the last moment yesterday evening with her boyfriend, she was in tears.”
“My goal was to end up in semis and no medal after because of the quota place.”
“I wanted to bring it home and then before this Championship it was European games, and I lost there just before the semis so it left me feeling like I can do it.”
Valencia embraced her competitor following her loss as the 28-year-old won Mexico’s first individual women’s medal.
“I feel very well, truthfully I feel well and happy,” she said. “I didn't know that this was something that had never been done before and so that makes me even happier.”
“More than anything, I was focused, tried to and I think I succeeded in maintaining my technique throughout the arrows and what I had to do, and it wasn't so much about who I was against but rather about doing it well regardless of who it was.
”Bronze medallist Noda edged Kang in a tense quarter-final shoot-off before she lost out to Horackova in the semi-final.
Her third-place head-to-head with Kaufhold was comfortable as she capitalised on the errors of the American, winning 6-2.
“I felt very confident, there is no other reason.” She said. “I wasn't expecting to stand here but I have a strong mind and so that's why I continued to train hard and that's why I got this medal.”
“In the Olympics, I want to get a medal. After this results, I want to get even more medals.
”On Kaufhold, she said: “She's a very good archer and she continued to win in order to get here, to this competition so I needed to be strong, have a strong mind to shoot against her.”
2021 World Archery Championships silver medallist Kaufhold was frustrated with fourth place but took consolation in securing an Olympic quota place for her country.
The 19-year-old stunned Olympic champion An San with a 6-4 win in the quarter-finals and lost to Valencia in a semi-final shoot-out.
“I think I had a lot of opportunity today but I didn’t quite take the slots that I could have," she said. "There were some shots I definitely could have made better, especially in the shoot-off."
“I am happy I got the quota spot, that was the biggest thing we were going for. To have that is satisfying but to not have a medal is definitely disappointing but it makes me hungrier for next time.”
“It was huge for all three Koreans to go out, that was very unexpected.”
“I knew An San would be a tough one so I just got up there and shot some good shots.”
