Mathias Fullerton and Mike Schloesser proved class is permanent outside of individuals as Denmark and Netherlands booked themselves to headline the Olympic-tinged compound mixed team final at Puebla – the first stage of the 2026 Hyundai World Cup.
As top seed in the category following Tuesday’s qualification round, Fullerton and Tanja Gellenthien were given a bye in the first round and lived up to that billing by eliminating Croatia, Guatemala and India without any difficulty in matches, never dropping below 156 together.
The Dutch duo of Schloesser and De Laat however were forced to play an extra match and overcome a much sterner path to Saturday’s stage as the 10th seed, beating consistent top nations such as Estonia and Colombia before their all-important victory against USA 157-156, who – ironically – now have ex-Denmark compound men archer Stephan Hansen in their ranks.
World number one Schloesser and two time Fullerton have faced off against one another 14 times in five years in all competitions but in mixed team only twice.
“We knew we had it in us,” said Fullerton, who will be hoping to get the better of Schloesser for the fourth time of his career this weekend. “We’ve just felt like we’ve been so unlucky every time we shot with each other. We just met the wrong people at the wrong time so it’s awesome.”
“I feel like we shot better and better throughout the day today so I’m excited for the final on Saturday. It’s just super awesome because there is a bit more pressure now at the [LA28] Olympics and we know we could do it, but we want to show the federation and the people funding us now that we really can do it so this means a lot, just being in the final now.”
Their tit-for-tat dominance in archery’s biggest indoor and outdoor competitions – the pair shared the number one spot for a period last year and share six of the past 10 World Cup Finals golds – suggests it will be hard for a lot of the focus not to be on them, but there is also plenty of significance on their respective female partners in the team.
