Mokrice (SLO) – Canada’s 16-member team is currently competing at the World Archery 3D Championships in Mokrice, Slovenia, with impressive results after the first two days of the qualification ranking rounds. Four Canadian archers have advanced to the top 16 in their respective categories, securing spots in the elimination rounds.

In the Men’s Barebow category, 2022 World Championships Silver medalist William Alex Melnik (Burlington, AB) maintained his strong form, finishing the qualification round in 4th place. He will face Austria’s Christian Klein-Weinberger in the 1/8 elimination round on Friday. Reflecting on his performance so far, Alex shared, “The goal was to come and maintain consistency regardless of the shooting conditions, and I think we did that. Going into finals, the goal is to reframe any form of adrenaline into focus and determination. If I can do that, regardless of what happens, I have already won.”

Veteran archer Katie Britton (Pinantan Lake, BC), competing in the Women’s Traditional category, finished 10th after two days of competition. She had an impressive start, placing 3rd after the first day but experienced a slight drop in the standings. She will now face Claudia Hossfeld of Mexico in Friday’s elimination rounds. “After the high of finishing in 3rd place on day one, dropping off a bit in the standings after day two of qualifications was disappointing,” said Katie. “However, there is no hiding place at this level, and now I am fully focused on Friday’s eliminations with a winning mindset, where every arrow counts.”

Miranda Sparkes from Logan Lake, BC, ranked 14th in the Longbow Women category and will advance to the 1/8 elimination round, where she will go up against Inge Sirkel-Suviste of Estonia.

Also advancing is Monica Higgins of Lethbridge, AB, competing in the Compound Women category. A five-time World Championships participant and member of Canada’s 2019 Silver medal team, Monica finished 15th in qualifications. Commenting on the challenging courses, she said, “I’m very pleased with my judging of the distances overall. There were a handful of targets that were in dark holes, and you actually couldn’t see them. My focus for eliminations is judging yards primarily and then one arrow at a time.” Monica faces Irene Francini of Italy in the first round of eliminations.

Competition continues tomorrow with the Team Rounds, while individual eliminations up to the semifinals will take place on Friday. For more details and complete results, visit: https://info.ianseo.net/?tourid=750.