Sussex archery ace strikes European gold in Poland

Archery GB was celebrating a weekend of international successes for several archers at the European Games in Krakow, Poland – Pitman included.

Penny Healey broke her own senior UK record and U21 European record by one point and partnered with Monty Orton in the mixed team category where the pair smashed the U21 mixed team European record.

Boosted by the team's confident start to the competitions, Penny took her place in the female recurve team alongside world number one, Pitman and Jaspreet Sagoo to compete for European glory.

The ladies ranked third following qualification and battled courageously through a quarter-final against Denmark and a semi-final against a highly ranked Italian team.

The semi-final was a true nail-biter as the match went all the way to a tie, with the GB women successfully out-shooting them to take their spot in the final against France, where the British women proved too strong for their French counterparts and won the gold medal convincingly 5-1.

Pitman said: "I think we put on a good performance. We worked really well as a team, and it paid off. To come out here and win this medal has been absolutely amazing."

Pitman made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games, finishing ninth individually and in the women’s team. She also won individual silver at the Birmingham 2022 World Games and the World Archery Field Championships 2022.