There was a huge upset at the Rome 2026 European Para Archery Championships in women’s W1, as Spain’s Isabel Fernandez Jimenez beat world number one and number one seed Sarka Pultar Musilova, 6-4 to become European champion at the historic Nando Martellini Stadium.
It was the third time in a year that the two had faced off, in both Nove Mesto and Gwangju, but each time (scored on total) Musilova had steamrollered her way to victory. Musilova had qualified as top seed on Tuesday by a huge 37 points.
This year, using the set system, the match looked like it would be going the same way, as Musilova powered to a 4-2 lead, but a poor opening arrow to the fourth set saw it tied up for a decider. Fernandez delivered a 9,8,9 to take the win and her first major title. It was her second title overall; Fernandez won here last year at the Rome 2025 European Para Archery Cup Leg 1.
The men’s W1 was won by Italian Paolo Tonon, the winner at Nove Mesto last year.
As expected, Italy’s Elisabetta Mijno took a fifth title in recurve women’s individual, beating second seed Ziva Lavrinc of Slovenia 7-1 in a dominant performance.
The experienced Frenchman Guillaume Toucoullet won the recurve men’s title 6-4 in a tight, high-quality encounter. Toucoullet, who shoots with a mouth release, has picked up many medals since his debut on the circuit in 2019, including a gold at Nove Mesto in 2025, but this marked both his first European title and first major.
The ever-ebullient Oznur Cure Girdi, the Paralympic champion, had little trouble on her way to a second European title after winning here in 2024, while the London 2012 Paralympic champion Jere Forsberg of Finland rolled back the years to take his second European title after winning in 2022.
In visually impaired 1, the 2023 world champion Matteo Panariello gave the host nation another title, beating the 2025 world champion Christos Misos of Greece, 7-4. In visually impaired 2, Great Britain’s Nicholas Thomas, the world number one and reigning world champion just edged out Italy’s Daniele Piran, 6-4 for the title.
All attention now turns to the World Archery Para Series meet at Nove Mesto in Czechia at the end of June, expected to be a full-strength world turnout for recurve, compound and W1, with the Asian Para Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 dominating the calendar for much of the field in 2026.
