Steve Wijler (Netherlands), Ziga Ravnikar (Slovenia) and Mykhailo Usach (Ukraine) won recurve men’s tickets to Paris 2024 this afternoon in Essen, joining the recurve women from Austria, Estonia and Ukraine who booked Olympics tickets in the morning.
Dutch archers controlled the men’s bracket and controlled the day.
After Wijler won the opening quarterfinal match, Ravnikar beat Slovenian teammate Den Habjan and Usach shocked world number three (and defending Olympic silver medallist Mauro Nespoli. It left Senna Roos in control of several archers’ destinies.
“Today I just became the number one Netherlands fan I guess,” said Ravnikar.
Second-seed Roos crumbled in regulation against Conor Hall – but in the tiebreak, he found his centre… and the centre. The shoot-off maximum, eliminating the Brit, meant he would survive in the tournament and that both Ravnikar and Usach would secure Olympic spots for Slovenia and Ukraine.
(Nations could win a maximum of one spot in this event. Two Dutch archers in the final four meant only three countries remained.)
The quarterfinal matches were critical, too. Although archers win quota places for their countries rather than qualifying personally, at this late stage many nations assign spots to the athletes that secure them.
“It was a hard match between me and Den, but it’s me who won in the end,” said Ravnikar.
