Bullseye! Czech archer Marie Horáčková becomes country's first world champion

Czech archer Marie Horáčková has made history at the 2023 World Archery Championships in Berlin this weekend. Taking home the gold medal at the event, Horáčková has become the first archery world champion in the history of the independent Czech Republic.

The Czech archer defeated Mexico's Alejandra Valencia, bronze medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, in the final match at the championships in Berlin. The victory also guarantees Horáčková a spot at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Despite being ranked 42nd in the world, the 25-year-old Horáčková dominated the tournament. Her journey began with a seventh-place qualification finish among 140 competitors, which earned her a bye for the initial rounds of the playoffs.

In subsequent rounds, she defeated opponents Charline Schwarz from Germany and Slovenia's Žana Pintarič, with scores of 6-4 in each match.

In the quarterfinals, she triumphed over Korean archer Lim Si-hyeon, ranked 13th in the world, with an impressive 6-0 victory. Her path to the finals continued with another 6-0 victory over Japanese archer Noda Satsuki.

The final match against Valencia was no less impressive. Horáčková displayed her mastery with another 6-0 victory, netting scores of 29-28, 28-27, and 29-27 across three sets to secure her gold medal.

The victory marks the first time in the history of the independent Czech Republic that the country has a world archery champion. Going back to when the country was part of Czechoslovakia, it's only the second time that an archery world champion has hailed from the Czech lands.

František Hadaš previously won a gold medal for Czechoslovakia at the archery world championships in London in 1938. Horáčková's accomplishment comes as a particularly special breakthrough considering her relatively lower world ranking.

The last representative of the Czech Republic or Czechoslovakia to win any medal at the archery world championships had been Božena Deptová in 1961, who won bronze in Oslo.

Horáčková's success also extends her Olympic journey. She previously participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and is now set to represent her country again in the Paris Olympics next year. Her mother Barbora Horáčková had also been an Olympic archer at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.