Gold in Kamnik: Recaps and Results from the 2026 Veronica's Cup

The target faces are packed away, the arrows have flown, and Kamnik, Slovenia has once again proven why it is a premier destination for world-class archery. From May 28 to May 31, 2026, the Veronica's Cup celebrated a massive milestone—its historic 10th anniversary edition.

Organized by Lokostrelski Klub Kamnik (LKK) at the stunning Arboretum Volčji Potok venue, this year’s field was the deepest in the tournament's history, featuring roughly 390 archers from 40 countries. The tournament delivered high-stakes drama, incredible comebacks, and absolute precision under pressure.

If you missed the live action on Ianseo, here is exactly how the intense final matches shook out across the Recurve and Compound fields.

🎯 The Recurve Field: Top Seeds Hold the Line

In the recurve categories, the tournament's top qualification seeds walked into the elimination rounds with massive targets on their backs, yet both managed to carry their ranking all the way to gold.

• The Men's Comeback: Kazakhstan's two-time Olympian Ilfat Abdullin proved why he earned the number-one seed (scoring 669 in qualification). In an absolute nail-biter of a gold medal match against India's Sachin Gupta, Abdullin found himself trailing early on. Displaying remarkable composure, he launched a thrilling counter-attack to seal a 6–4 comeback victory. Spain's Yun Sánchez Antoku cleared out the podium to take home bronze.

• Dominance from Czechia: On the women’s side, the 2023 World Champion Marie Horackova (Czechia) was unstoppable. Having secured the top seed with a qualification score of 673, she locked down the individual gold medal by defeating second seed Megan Havers of Great Britain.

• Double Gold: Horackova didn't stop at individual success—she also guided Czechia to a gold medal finish in the Recurve Mixed Team event alongside Matěj Špinar, defeating Hungary in the finals.

🏹 The Compound Field: Absolute Precision

The compound divisions are a game of millimeters, where dropping even a single point can cost you the tournament. This year’s finals came down to the absolute last arrows.

• A Perfect Finish: The Compound Women's final was a masterclass in handling pressure. Italy's Elisa Roner went head-to-head with defending champion and world number ten, Meeri-Marita Paas of Estonia. Locked in a dead heat for most of the match, Roner sealed her gold medal with a flawless, perfect final end (30 points), capitalizing on a minor 9-point slip from Paas to win by a singular, dramatic point.

• Coin Tossing to Gold: India's Priyansh took home the Compound Men’s title. After initially missing out on the top seed during qualification due to a literal coin-toss tie-breaker (both he and Slovenia's Tim Jevsnik shot a stellar 709), Priyansh channeled his focus into the bracket, delivering a beautifully composed final match against Italy's Elia Fregnan to capture the championship. El Salvador's veteran Roberto Hernandez claimed the bronze.

🏆 2026 Veronica's Cup Official Podium

Here is the official medal distribution across the major categories:

Individual Results

Mixed Team Results

Team Standings Focus

• Recurve Men Team: 🥇 Slovenia | 🥈 Great Britain | 🥉 Spain

• Recurve Women Team: 🥇 Great Britain | 🥈 Republic of Moldova | 🥉 Spain

• Compound Men Team: 🥇 Italy | 🥈 Slovenia | 🥉 Hungary

• Compound Women Team: 🥇 Croatia | 🥈 Italy | 🥉 Kazakhstan

🌟 World Record Alert: Beyond the senior titles, the 10th anniversary edition made history during qualification! Slovakia's Jozef Bosansky and Petra Kocutova set a pending Compound 50+ Mixed Team World Record with an incredible combined score of 1372 points out of 1440, breaking their own record set just days prior at the European Championships.

For the complete, arrow-by-arrow bracket breakdowns and youth category rankings (U21 and U18), check out the official Ianseo Event Page.

Article By Lalit Jain