WINNIPEG, Canada – USA archers return from the World Archery Youth Championships with six medals, including four gold and two silver.
Helping the USA to three of those gold medals was compound U18 archer Savannah O’Donohue, while the recurve U21 men’s team triumphed for the first time in 32 years!
“The feeling is so surreal,” began O’Donohue. “I feel like I accomplished what I set out to achieve. I trained mornings and evenings with my coaches, Chip and Kathleen Hemphill.
“They put together a training plan for me to work on daily. We worked on executing my shots and building my confidence. To know that all my training and hard work paid off is so satisfying.”
O’Donohue took individual gold and was also part of the U18 mixed team and U18 compound women’s team success.
She added, “My hope was to execute strong and confident shots, shoot to the best of my ability and whatever the score, being happy with making memories and gaining experience.”
The 17-year-old from Benton, LA was the top seed after qualification, shooting 686 in the individual competition. Her first gold, though, came on Friday alongside Julia Cook and Khloe Markle in the compound U18 women’s team event. The trio turned around an early two point deficit to a three point win, defeating Chinese Taipei 227-224.
“It felt great to win gold with my teammates,” O’Donohue said. “We all trained hard to make it this far. To leave knowing everyone has a gold medal and a great memory makes me so happy.”
That was followed by double gold on Saturday, first alongside Caleb Quiocho in compound U18 mixed team. The USA pair trailed India by three points after the first end, then by two points, before taking a one point deficit into the fourth and final end. They shot 39 to India’s 37 on the final end for a 150-149 win.
O’Donohue admits things got a little tense, commenting, “The last few arrows of competition for mixed team were nerve wracking. I just kept thinking and telling myself to trust my process and stick them in the 10 ring.”
The teenager had little time to enjoy that mixed team win before stepping back onto the finals field for her 145-136 individual victory over Fenna Stallen (NED).
Quiocho was the winner of two medals. As well as the mixed team gold, he was part of the compound U18 men’s team to win silver, sharing the podium with Suraj Nalam and Brody Wonch.
The compound U18 women were not the only team success on Friday. The recurve U21 men of Joshua Baek, Jack Krengel and Christian Stoddard defeated Korea 5-1 in the gold medal match. The last time the USA won world gold in recurve U21 men was at the 1993 edition in France, with the team made up of J Lacner, Rodney White and Vic Wunderle.
The 2025 World Archery Youth Championships finished on a high for the USA on Sunday, with recurve U18 mixed team silver, courtesy of Jackson Miller and Ye-Eun Whang.
