9 athletes to watch at the 2017 World Archery Youth Championships

The 2017 World Archery Youth Championships start on 2 October in Rosario, Argentina. Before qualification begins one day later, on 3 October, we’ve picked out nine archers worth keeping an eye on during competition.

1. LUCILLA BOARI, Italy

This 20-year-old Italian archer, who is shooting in the recurve junior women’s event in Rosario, came fourth with her team at the Olympics in Rio. She was also Italy’s representative at the 2017 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final, finishing seventh, and is a regular on the senior team.

2. JAN VAN TONGEREN, Netherlands

The cadet world silver medallist in 2015, Jan was also a fifth-placed finisher at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing in 2014. He has stuck to European events for the past two years and now competes as a junior.

3. VIKTOR OROSZ, Hungary

A winner, through and through, Orosz has three world titles to his name at the age of 19: youth indoor (2014, 2016) and cadet outdoor (2015). Now a junior, can Viktor hold on to his record of never losing a medal match?

4. MARCUS D’ALMEIDA, Brazil

Silver medallist at the Youth Olympic Games in 2014 and the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final that same year, Marcus was touted at Brazil’s big archery hopeful in the lead-up to Rio 2016. He admitted the pressure and spotlight exhausted him, and subsequently the Games didn’t yield what he (or the Brazilian media) wanted.

He quietly had a solid follow-up season in 2017, coming 17th at the World Cup stages in Antalya and Berlin, and making his first individual medal match in Salt Lake City,  ultimately coming fourth.

D’Almeida won the cadet world title in 2015 and competes as a junior this time around. 

5. LUCY MASON, Great Britain

Having broken onto the senior squad in 2017, cadet archer Mason is an up-and-comer from Britain who’s also shooting at the World Archery Championships in Mexico City shortly after Rosario. She took a silver medal with the British compound women’s squad at the fourth stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup circuit in Berlin.

6. METE GAZOZ, Turkey

Mete has had more individual success in senior competition than youth. The 18-year-old Turkish archer, who made his Olympic debut in Rio, came second at the European Championships in 2016. He’s won two silver medals at youth world championships in team competition.

7. LI JIAMAN, China

The double-gold medallist at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games, then coached by Olympic medallist He Ying, Li hasn’t been seen in competition since.

8. DIVYA DHAYAL, India

Just 15 years of age, Divya won a stage of the Asia Cup in mid-2017 and has been attending Hyundai Archery World Cup stages with the Indian team since 2016. Ranked 28th in the world as a senior, competing in Rosario as a cadet, this is her first world championships.

9. CASSIDY COX, USA

Competing at both the youth and senior worlds in 2017, Cox won team medals at two Hyundai Archery world Cup stages during the season – and finished third in the mixed team event at the World Games in Wroclaw, Poland.

The 2017 World Archery Youth Championships run 2 to 10 October in Rosario, Argentina.