Whether she has won medals or not, the two-time Olympian is consistently one of the top performers in ranking rounds at 70 metres, field and indoor competitions since her breakout moment in Berlin three years ago.
In 2026 for example, she has been the top seed in three of the five competitions she’s entered – Spring Arrows [silver], European Outdoor Championships 2026, Veronica’s Cup [gold] – and was only two points behind Li Jiaman [673] on Wednesday’s qualification [671] to be second seed.
Getting over the line in matches, however, has been her Achilles’ heel thus far in World Cups, with too much mental pressure at qualification venues being the problem, more nerve-wracking than shooting in front of potentially hundreds in finals she revealed.
Who knows how she would’ve coped therefore with the plentiful support Elia Canales and Andres Temiño Mediel received yesterday from the home Spanish fans when they made it into the recurve mixed team gold medal match.
“I want to prepare for Sunday because fighting here on the main field is more difficult for me than at the finals. I love shooting on the podium.”
“I really love it. I enjoy the show, I enjoy the crowds, and I’m so happy that I have some people around who are cheering.”
“I think I was missing just one little thing to get through the eliminations and reach the semis. Maybe it was just the fear of winning.”
“So this is what kept me in the tunnel, focusing on my shooting and shooting good arrows,” she concluded.
Horackova’s confidence in herself as a big-game player will get pushed to the test on Sunday when she faces Korea’s Oh Yejin at Complutense National Stadium, which hosts the compound finals tomorrow first.
