Francesco Gregori secured a silver medal in the men’s individual recurve archery event at the Mediterranean Games in Taranto, leading an Italian delegation that also recorded three fourth-place finishes in team competitions.
Competing at the venue in Crispiano, the 24-year-old athlete from Rimini advanced through the elimination rounds before meeting France’s Thomas Chirault in the gold medal match. Chirault, ranked ninth in the world and a team silver medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, claimed the final 7–1. The match scores ran 28–27, 30–27, 28–24 for the Frenchman, alongside a single 29–29 draw.
Gregori’s Path to the Podium
Gregori entered the knockout bracket seeded seventh following the ranking round, where he posted 649 points. Benefiting from a first-round bye, the Italian archer defeated Portugal’s Luis Gonçalves 6–0, overcame compatriot Massimiliano Mandia 6–2, and secured a 6–0 victory over Turkey’s Mete Gazoz—an opponent who holds Olympic, world, and European titles. Gregori then advanced past Spain’s Diego Conde Collar 6–2 in the semifinals before facing Chirault.
“Questa medaglia per me è molto importante,” Gregori stated, noting that the event marked his first individual international podium with the senior national team. He added that managing the competition amid high temperatures proved both challenging and memorable.
Italian Teams Miss Out on Bronze
While Gregori’s individual performance yielded the sole medal for the Italian archery team at the event, the nation’s squads reached three separate bronze-medal matches, ultimately finishing fourth in each contest. In the women’s team competition, Tatiana Andreoli, Roberta Di Francesco, and Chiara Rebagliati were defeated 5–1 by Spain after dropping an earlier 5–4 decision to Turkey via a shoot-off.
The men’s team—consisting of Matteo Borsani, Francesco Gregori, and Massimiliano Mandia—opened with a 6–2 win over Greece before falling 6–0 to France in the semifinals. In the bronze playoff, Turkey secured a 6–0 victory against the Italian trio, sweeping the sets with partial scores of 57–53, 55–54, and 57–56.
In the mixed team category, Roberta Di Francesco and Matteo Borsani defeated Serbia 6–2 in the quarterfinals before losing by the same score to Turkey in the semifinals. The Italian pair then faced world champions Spain in the bronze-medal match, dropping a closely contested encounter 5–3.
Official Presence and Context
The finals drew high-ranking officials to the Crispiano venue, with the Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, and local Mayor Lo Pomo observing the matches from the stands. Despite missing out on team medals, Gregori’s silver maintains a long-standing tradition of Italian archery podium finishes at the Mediterranean Games.
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