“I love shooting with him because he’s had a really good career. He won the recurve men team Olympic silver in 2008. I was nine years old then. He’s a really big name, and I have so much respect for him because of his age and the fact he can still show such a good performance.”
As respectful to his opponents as Gazoz is and always has been, he will be returning to Türkiye knowing that he handled the conditions in Madrid as best as anyone could on the day with Nespoli gesticulating with his hands when he dropped the seven – the last arrow of the Taipei Archery Open gold medalist’s match.
However, Gazoz has slowly but surely been climbing to this form throughout the season, staring with bronze in Puebla [stage one], silver in Shanghai [stage two] and finally gold in Madrid.
This steady, incremental increase in quality during the season is deliberate with Gazoz revealing in the week how Turkiye’s training programmes are partly designed for its athletes to peak their performances in the end of summer where the season’s biggest competitions usually take place.
For Istanbul-native Gazoz and his teammates this year that is the Taranto 2026 Mediterranean Games.
The meticulous planning therefore – spearheaded by technical director and national team head coach Yusuf Goktug Ergin – brings little wonder as to how the 27-year-old performed today, also for Elif Gokkir who got her first World Cup individual [silver] in the recurve women earlier.
“It’s actually everything, not just the technique or just physical strength, it’s everything… It’s about the process,” he added. “We’re always preparing for the last competition because the World Championships, Europeans, Olympics – every major competition – is in the first week of August or July.”
“This is my third individual gold medal, and all my gold medals have come around the same date as the last World Cup.”
Gold for Gazoz concluded the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup, with the circuit now ready to be culminated in September’s World Cup Final in Saltillo, Mexico.
