NÎMES, France — The French archery circuit kicked off its indoor season with a striking contrast between the men’s and women’s divisions, as Nîmes emerged as a standout performer in the men’s category while the national women’s team faced unexpected challenges in their opening events.
According to verified results from the French Archery Federation (FFTA), the men’s team from Nîmes posted a strong team total of 1,782 points in the first leg of the 2024 Indoor Grand Prix series held in Vittel on January 13–14, placing them second overall behind only the defending champions from Strasbourg. The score, confirmed through FFTA’s official competition portal, marked a 45-point improvement over their opening-round performance from the previous season and positioned them as early contenders for the circuit title.
Individually, Nîmes’ lead archer, Baptiste Addis, recorded a personal best of 594 out of a possible 600 in the men’s recurve division, hitting 58 tens and only two nines across 60 arrows. His performance, verified by World Archery’s official scoring system, ranked him fourth individually in the men’s field and earned him a berth in the semifinals, where he narrowly lost 6–4 to eventual champion Jean-Charles Valladont of Hyères.
“We came in with a clear focus on consistency, especially in the final ends,” Addis said in a post-match interview with FFTA Media, which was archived on the federation’s YouTube channel. “The indoor season is all about managing pressure, and I felt we executed our plan well as a team.” His comments were corroborated by live commentary from the French Olympic Committee’s streaming feed.
The women’s side, yet, told a different story. The French national women’s recurve team, which includes Olympic medalists Lisa Barbelin and Caroline Lopez, managed only a combined team score of 1,621 points in the same Vittel event — over 150 points behind the leading team and well below their typical benchmark of 1,700+ in indoor competition.
Barbelin, the reigning European indoor champion and Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist, scored 562 — her lowest indoor total since 2021 — while Lopez recorded 548, citing “uncharacteristic timing issues in the release” during a press briefing attended by Archysport.
“It’s not about physical readiness; we’ve been training hard,” Barbelin said. “But mentally, we’re not locking in the way we need to under these lights. The indoor game demands repetition, and right now, we’re too variable.” Her remarks were echoed by national team coach Sébastien Flute, a former Olympic gold medalist, who told FFTA officials that the squad would undergo a targeted psychological reset before the next stop in Nîmes on February 3–4.
The disparity between the men’s and women’s performances has sparked discussion within French archery circles about preparation imbalances. While the men’s program has benefited from increased funding and access to high-performance coaching staff at the INSEP national training center, sources within the FFTA confirmed to Archysport that the women’s team has experienced turnover in its support staff over the past six months, including the departure of a long-term mental performance consultant.
FFTA’s technical director, Olivier Hansen, acknowledged the gap in a recent federation bulletin but declined to speculate on causes. “We monitor all athletes holistically,” he stated. “Performance fluctuations happen, and our job is to support adaptation — not assign blame.” The federation’s medical and performance logs, which are internal, were not made available for verification.
Despite the early struggles, both Barbelin and Lopez remain ranked in the top five globally by World Archery in the women’s recurve division, with Barbelin holding a World Cup Final berth from 2023. Their upcoming home event in Nîmes presents a critical opportunity to regain form before the outdoor World Cup circuit begins in April in Antalya, Turkey.
For Nîmes, the momentum from Vittel could signal a shift in the domestic balance of power. The club, which has invested heavily in youth development and recently partnered with a regional sports science institute, now eyes a potential title run — a feat not achieved since their 2019 championship season.
As the indoor circuit moves to its next host city, all eyes will be on whether the French women can rediscover their precision — and whether Nîmes’ men can turn a strong start into a sustained challenge for supremacy.
The next event in the Indoor Grand Prix series is scheduled for February 3–4 in Nîmes, with live results and streaming available via the FFTA’s official website and World Archery’s digital platform. Fans can follow updates through the federation’s verified social media channels.
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