Zhu Jingyi continued her meteoric rise by defeating two Olympic medallists on her way to a second recurve women’s individual gold medal of the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup season at Antalya.
Only hours after defeating Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion An San 6-0 in the semifinals with three sets of 29 points, the 19-year-old then beat Mexico’s Paris 2024 Olympic team bronze medallist Ana Paula Vazquez Flores 7-3 to secure the sixth international gold medal of her career.
That tally already includes the recurve women’s individual title from stage one in Puebla in April.
Born and raised in Shanghai, Zhu is now confirmed to represent China at the upcoming Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, and victory in Antalya further strengthened her status as one of the favourites for gold later this year.
“I’m very happy because I was very relaxed during this match,” she said after finishing the final with three 10s. “No matter what difficulties I encountered, I was able to handle them well, which will allow me to perform even better in future matches.”
“There wasn’t exactly a problem, because I felt I couldn’t stop my opponent from shooting well, so I could only try my best, do my best and enjoy the match.”
While some athletes struggle to hide emotion after major victories, Zhu already carries herself with remarkable composure despite being only 19.
India’s Dhiraj Bommadevara, for example, was visibly emotional after winning recurve men’s gold earlier in the afternoon, but Zhu appeared calm throughout both the semifinal and final.
Her confidence on the shooting line has become one of the defining characteristics of her rapid rise.
