Winchelsea archer Imogen Grzemski won a gold medal at the World Archery Oceania Target Championships in Adelaide from April 13 to 16.
The Geelong Archers competitor followed up from her fourth place at last year’s World Championship by winning the Target event and followed up by making her way through the Matchplay rounds to the gold medal match.
In a tight tussle with New Zealand’s Vanessa Kim, Imogen prevailed in windy conditions to take the match 6-3.
“I just turned 21 last month so this was my first tournament ever in the open division,” she said.
“Bringing home the gold medal is just the cherry on top. I can’t put it into words. It was just fantastic, incredible.”
Imogen grew up in Connecticut, USA, but came to Australia when she was 18, hated archery when she was first introduced to it by her father.
“When I was 11, my dad picked it up as a hobby,” she said.
“For my 12th birthday he got me a lesson and thought I should try it out. I actually hated it. I didn’t want to go back.
“It didn’t click instantly, but when my dad went to his practice later that week, everyone said to him ‘when’s your daughter coming back, she was pretty good wasn’t she?’
“He came home and asked me to give it another shot and I’m thankful I did. Right after that next time at the range, you couldn’t get me out of there. I loved it.”
Imogen’s goal is to make it to multiple Olympics and coach, preferably as Australia’s national women’s coach.
“I was a gymnast before I started archery so I have a lot of muscle control and upper body strength from that,” she said.
“My favourite thing about archery is that you can have a perfect-feeling shot, it feels really good, goes right in the middle, but then you can’t do it again straight away.
“There’s no line of perfection so you’re always grabbing for something and I love it. It’s an incredibly mental game. I love the pressure of it, I thrive off it.”
