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Tartler, Borsani lead recurve qualifying at World Games as snakes force course change

11 August 2025

Chengdu, China

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Italy’s Matteo Borsani and Germany’s Elisa Tartler have seeded top of the men’s and women’s fields after recurve field qualification concluded today at the Chengdu 2025 World Games.

Archers shot an unmarked round in the morning, then the same round marked in the afternoon. Conditions in Chengdu were again extremely hot and humid, and a towel was the most vital accessory for archers shooting today’s qualification.

But one rather more dramatic change had already been put in place; the original field course was supposed to include five targets deeper in the woods around Qinglong Lake Park. Shortly before the competition, these were moved to the main lake area due to the presence of venomous snakes.

The changes have made for a flatter, more open and less technical field course, which suits some archers more than others.

Tartler, a bronze medallist at the Birmingham 2022 World Games, qualified first of the 11-strong women’s field with 705, just edging out Denisa Barankova of Slovakia on six-count, with defending champion Chiara Rebagliati of Italy in third place.

“I’m quite happy with the first place of course, it was a little bit difficult, but I’m very happy that in the end it all worked out,” said the German. “There were not many ups-and-downs, but it was quite a beautiful view, the park is really really nice.”

Borsani, who dominated the afternoon’s marked round said: “I feel really good about it. This morning I had a technical issue with my sight, but I shot really well this afternoon to make up for it. Scenery-wise it was a bit flat, but I enjoyed it.”

The 22-year-old Italian has form in Chengdu; he visited the Chinese city for the Chengdu 2021 Summer World University Games, where he took a team bronze medal in the recurve target event.

The defending champion, Germany’s Florian Unruh qualified in second place.

“It’s good for the next days,” said the 32-year-old. “Tomorrow we have only the one match to decide who we shoot against, so that’s nice. I’m just going to make strong shots, that’s it.”

The top two archers in each field get a bye through to the finals on Wednesday, but have to open up the eliminations by shooting an exhibition match against each other, the winner of which gets to choose which half of the draw they want their semifinal opponent to be drawn from.

Gaby Schloesser placed sixth in the recurve women’s qualification after arriving with her daughter Luna, just ten-week old, in time to see her husband Mike win the compound title.

“I qualified for Chengdu last year, after I came second in the World Championships,” an emotional Gaby explained. “I was actually pregnant back at the time, and I didn’t know. Coming back from Canada, we found that we were expecting.”

“It’s been a little bit different than other competitions. I didn’t have the preparation I would have liked to. Life is a little bit different right now. Just feel really privileged to be able to do what I love the most, obviously after Luna.”

Competition at the World Games continues with recurve eliminations on Tuesday.