Turkish archery superstar, Mete Gazoz, clinched the gold medal by vanquishing Slovenian Den Habjan Malavasic in the Men's Recurve Bow final of the European Archery Championship on Sunday.
The European Outdoor Archery Championship, organized by the European Archery Federation in Essen, Germany, saw national athlete Mete Gazoz reach the top of the podium.
Gazoz progressed to the final by eliminating Luxembourg's Pit Klein 6-0, Dutchman Steve Wijler 6-0, another Dutch competitor Gijs Broeksma 6-0, and in the semifinals, Frenchman Baptiste Addis 7-1.
The Turkish gem will march toward gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, following his historic Olympic championship.
Mete Gazoz, who also claimed the world champion title in 2023, completed his collection of gold medals.
At just 24, Gazoz reached the first gold medal of his career and in history at the European Championship by conceding only 1 point.
The young talent who eyes the Paris showdown broke on to the scene at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and went on to clinch gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Before this crucial test, Mete Gazoz has gathered titles and historic medals in what could be considered a preparation period.
After becoming world champion in 2023, Mete Gazoz also secured a quota in the team category as part of the classic bow men's national team.
There was one missing piece in Mete Gazoz's career, and that was the European championship.
In the European Championship, where he missed the final in 2016 and won the bronze medal in 2022, the youngster did not give his opponents a chance this time.
After finishing the ranking rounds in second place, Gazoz advanced through his first two matches with a bye.
He went 6-0 up in both the round of 16 and quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, he defeated French young talent, Baptiste Addis, 7-1.
In the final, he once again went haywire, defeating his experienced Slovenian opponent Den Habjan Malavasic (29-25, 26-25, 30-28) with a 6-0 score, putting the first European gold medal of his career around his neck.
With this result, Mete Gazoz completed the triple combination of Olympic, World, and European champion, becoming the first archer to achieve this.
He also showed how ambitious he is for the podium before Paris 2024.
Gazoz not only competed for podium finishes in men's individual but also in mixed team and men's team categories.
The Turkish national team consisting of Mete Gazoz, Berkay Akkoyun, and Berkim Tümer came back from 4-0 down to beat the Netherlands 5-4 in the third place match with tie-break shots (50-57, 52-60, 57-55, 57-56, 29-28TB) and cliched the third spot on the European stage.
The men's national team achieved podium success for the second time in the history of the European Championships.
The last time Türkiye had won a gold medal was in 2000 with the team consisting of Akbal Özdemir, Hasan Orbay, and Serdar Şatır.
The Fatma Maraşlı, Mete Gazoz duo lost to the Netherlands 5-1 in the Mixed Team third place match and became the fourth in Europe.
Türkiye thus finished the championship with a total of six medals, including two gold, a single silver, and three bronze medals, along with the medals it won in the recurve bow.
