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Around the Alachua County community, sports are a vital part of everyday living. The area features die-hard Florida football fans and lifelong lovers of competition. One relatively new fixture brought to the community is archery.
The Easton Newberry Archery Center will host the 2025 World Archery Youth Championship Trials on Wednesday. This competition is held annually, and last year it acted as an Olympic qualifier. The center also hosted qualifiers for the Paralympic games.
NEWS. Central Florida 2025: How to watch the World Cup season opener.https://t.co/slktgyP1Vw#ArcheryWorldCup #archery
— World Archery (@worldarchery) April 8, 2025
This year, young hopefuls will look for a spot on the U.S. national team. The trial features a 72-arrow qualification round, which will determine the top 8 contenders, each moving into round robin matches later in the day. This style involves each archer competing against every other archer rather than head-to-head matches.
This event qualifies athletes in two age classes: under-21 and under-18. The under-21 division is able to qualify for both the Youth World Championships and the Junior Pan Am Games. The under-18 competitors may only qualify for the Youth World Championships.
Following the trials, the center will also host the 16th annual Easton Foundation’s Gator Cup. At this three-day contest, almost 700 archers from across the nation will compete in the Team USA selection event. Four Olympians from the 2024 Paris Olympics are set to participate as well.
Five-time Olympic medalist Brady Ellison will be competing as he looks to return for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. He currently has three silver medals and two bronze but remains in pursuit of an elusive gold medal.
His Team USA teammates Catalina GNoriega, Casey Kaufhold and Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez are also returning to Florida to qualify for the national team once again. GNoriega is the reigning champion in the recurve competition at the Gator Cup. She will compete against both of her former teammates, including Kaufhold, who won Olympic bronze in the event.
