Penny Healey sets new Paris 2024 targets after team exit
For Penny Healey the mood after GB women’s archers went out of the Olympic team in the opening round was a mix of disappointment and defiance.
Disappointment at the result, a straight sets loss to Germany. Defiance after an individual performance in which she finally showed some of the class which propelled her to world No.1 a little over 12 months ago.
“I’m not done fighting for that medal,” declared the 19-year-old from Telford, who faces South Korea’s Hunyoung Jeon in the opening round of the individual tournament on Thursday.
Healey, who had written “Nothing to lose” on her hand in Biro ahead of last Thursday’s ranking round, had a new message penned for Sunday's team competition.
“Be confident,” it read. “When I’m practising, I feel different things,” Healey later explained.
“On Thursday heading into qualifying I felt a certain way and wrote it down. Today I felt I needed to be more confident in myself. I just had it down there as a little reminder.”
You couldn’t help but wonder if she had looked at the message after an opening set in which she could hit only two sevens and Germany cruised.
From that point on, Healey was close to perfect, hitting three straight 10s as she and team-mates Bryony Pitman and Megan Havers did their best to exert some pressure on the opposing trio of Katharina Bauer, Michelle Kroppen and Charline Schwarz.
Yet under bright blue skies in the grand architectural setting of Les Invalides, right in the heart of Paris, the reigning world champions were ruthless and unflinching.
GB’s second set score of 54, helped by Healey’s perfect 20, looked to have left their rivals with something of a tall order and the tension increased further when Bauer could only hit a nine with the next arrow, leaving her team-mates needing 18 from the final two to earn at least a share of the spoils.
Kroppen and Schwarz promptly fired their shots right into the middle of the target, scoring a perfect 20 to take the set and effectively rip the heart out of the GB challenge.
With her team on the brink, Healey opened the third set with a 10 but there was no matching Germany’s relentless heavy scoring.
“They are always going to be a strong team,” she later reflected. “Any time we go against them, it is going to be a tough game.”
Frustration stemmed from an opening set in which GB simply never got going and Germany grasped the initiative.
“I had the two dodgy shots to start with and that was kind of my switch to say: ‘OK Penny, get a grip! You don’t normally do this on the finals field!’” Healey said.
The response to the slow start was impressive but against talented opposition, not enough.
Defeat will have stung, yet context is also required. Both Healey and Havers, who at 16 is the youngest archer in the competition, are experiencing their first Games.
The latter later admitted nerves had been a factor in a performance which featured three eights and a seven in her six shots.
Healey, who has struggled to match the heights of 2023, which saw her nominated for the BBC young sports personality of the year prize, should at least take some belief after providing a demonstration of what she can do.
“I definitely will take confidence,” she said, explaining how the next few days will be spent working closely on technique.
“Everyone knows when I get on the finals field, I can bring it,” Healey added. “I will be ready.”