YANKTON, S.D. – Success at the World Archery Field Championships truly was a collective effort as the USA improved on their gold medal haul from two years ago, and in doing so swept half of the team golds on offer.
With six gold, eight silver and one bronze, the USA finished second in the standings with 15 overall medals. Four of those gold medals came in team competition, with two also being won by field ‘rookie’ Casey Kaufhold in recurve women and Hailey Franzone in recurve U21 women.
Franzone (pictured) won bronze on her debut two years ago and was one of seven archers wearing the USA jersey from the state of Arizona. The others were Emma Berkshire, Abigail Kippes, Khloe Markle, Jackson Miller, Ella O’Brien and Nicole Rasor. All were recipients of the 2026 Arizona Athlete Grant, which ‘recognizes and supports Arizona archers who have earned a place on a High Performance International Team and the opportunity to represent Team USA on the world stage.’
Kippes and Markle, along with Chloe Crandall, won women U21 team gold. Kippes and Pierce McAdam (pictured below) took top honors in recurve U21 mixed team. Markle also won silver with Grady Kane in compound U21 mixed team. Miller took silver in recurve U21 men. Crandall - the youngest member of the USA team aged just 15 - also won barebow U21 mixed team silver with Jacob Olmstead.
Kaufhold fully stepped into field archery this year and left Yankton as a double world champion. As well as winning individual gold, she also took the women’s team title alongside Erin Hollom (barebow) and Paige Pearce (compound).
Hollom and Kaufhold were both making their World Archery Field Championships debut and made history alongside the hugely-decorated Pearce as they combined to deliver women’s team gold for the very first time.
Kaufhold said, “I feel really good. I’ve been chasing a world title for a long time. I’ve been silver at a world championship before and fourth, so I knew it was just a matter of time, I honestly didn’t think field was going to be the first world champion title I had, but I am very happy for it.
“I worked really hard. I shot a lot of arrows. I set up my equipment as good as I could. I prepared really well for this tournament. It just feels good to know that it paid off.”
Seeded five after qualification, Kaufhold defeated Gaby Schloesser (NED) in the quarterfinals before denying defending champion and top seed Roberto Di Franceso (ITA) a repeat with victory in the semifinals. The 22-year-old U.S. archer made sure of a golden debut with a 62-52 triumph over Audrey Machinet (FRA).
“Field archery is very different world but it’s fun,” added Kaufhold. “My goal today was just to have fun. If I win, great, I just want to enjoy. And I did both of those things, so I'm happy.”
Debutants delivered for the USA, but so too did the veteran field archers. Brady Ellison departed Yankton with a medal of each color. He now has 25 medals in recurve from the various world championship events, including an impressive 11 from the World Archery Field Championships, seven from World Indoor and seven at the World Archery Championships. He won team gold at the 2004 World Archery Youth Championships in compound!
Ellison commented, “Anytime you come away from World Champs with medals it's awesome. This week was such a struggle for me. I struggled in the rain. I had problems with my marks all week, like it was just everything, just constantly changing.
“Getting wet and then drying out and so to be able to fight through everything and come away with three medals is really awesome. Kind of bummed about the individual. Casey and I fought hard to come back in to win a bronze and then you know that match against Italy going into a shoot off for the men's team gold was just awesome.”
This was the first time since 2016 in Dublin, Ireland that the USA had won gold in men’s team.
Thanks to the generosity of the Lancaster Archery Foundation, each U.S. archer participating at the World Archery Field Championships received a $500 stipend.
| GOLD | |
|---|---|
|
Recurve Women |
Casey Kaufhold |
|
Recurve U21 Women |
Hailey Franzone |
|
Men Team |
Gaius Carter |
|
Women Team |
Erin Hollom |
|
Compound Mixed Team |
Gaius Carter |
|
Recurve U21 Mixed Team |
Abigail Kippes |
| SILVER | |
|
Recurve Men |
Brady Ellison |
|
Recurve U21 Men |
Jackson Miller |
|
Compound Men |
Gaius Carter |
|
Compound Women |
Paige Pearce |
|
Compound U21 Men |
Grady Kane |
|
Compound U21 Women |
Julia Cook |
|
Barebow U21 Women |
Chloe Crandall |
|
Barebow U21 Mixed Team |
Chloe Crandall |
| BRONZE | |
|
Recurve Mixed Team |
Casey Kaufhold |
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