Bryony Pitman
British recurve archer with Olympic and world championship medals.
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Bryony Michaela Pitman (born 13 March 1997) is a British archer who competes in women's recurve events. She grew up in Shoreham-by-Sea; her father, Gary, also shot a bow in his youth. She joined Worthing Archery Club at age 11. Pitman attended Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Hove, earned a BA in History from Northumbria University in 2020, and an MA in Intelligence and Security Studies from Brunel University London in 2022.
Career
In 2012, Pitman won gold in the junior women's team event at the World Field Archery Championships in Val-d'Isère, France, alongside Daisy Clark and Evangeline Rawlings. At the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, she placed 14th in the individual ranking round and was eliminated in her first elimination match by Regina Romero of Guatemala. She took silver in the junior women's recurve and bronze in the junior women's team recurve at the 2017 European Indoor Archery Championships in Vittel, France, the latter with Alyssia Tromans-Ansell and Elizabeth Warner.
At the 2019 World Archery Championships in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, Pitman, Sarah Bettles, and Naomi Folkard won bronze in the women's team recurve. That same month, the trio took gold in the women's recurve team event at the 2019 European Games in Minsk, Belarus. Pitman represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where she finished 38th in the individual ranking round and was eliminated in her third match by eventual silver medalist Elena Osipova. She also competed in the women's team event and later that year at the 2021 World Archery Championships in Yankton, United States, in the women's recurve, women's team recurve, and mixed team events.
In 2022, Pitman won silver in the women's recurve at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. At the 2023 European Games in Poland, she took gold in the women's team recurve and also competed in the individual event.
That year, she participated in the women's individual and team recurve at the World Archery Championships in Berlin. Pitman and Conor Hall earned silver in the mixed team recurve at the 2024 European Archery Championships in Essen, Germany, where she also shot in the women's individual and team events. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she was eliminated in the individual round of 32 and, with Megan Havers and Penny Healey, lost to Germany in the women's team round of 16.
Lore & Background
Pitman grew up in Shoreham-by-Sea and joined Worthing Archery Club at age 11, following her father Gary who also archer in his youth. She attended Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Hove and later earned a BA in History from Northumbria University (2020) and an MA in Intelligence and Security Studies from Brunel University London (2022).
Her early success came in junior competition: she won gold in the junior women's team event at the 2012 World Field Archery Championships with Daisy Clark and Evangeline Rawlings. In 2014 she competed at the Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, finishing 14th in the ranking round and losing her first elimination match to Regina Romero of Guatemala. She won silver in the junior women's recurve and bronze in the junior women's team recurve at the 2017 European Indoor Archery Championships.
Pitman's senior breakthrough came in 2019, when she won bronze in the women's team recurve at the World Archery Championships alongside Sarah Bettles and Naomi Folkard, and gold in the same event at the European Games. She later won silver in the women's recurve at the 2022 World Games and gold in the women's team recurve at the 2023 European Games.
Reader's Guide
Bryony Pitman's career illustrates a steady progression from junior world champion to senior international medalist. Her 2019 bronze at the World Archery Championships in 's-Hertogenbosch, alongside Sarah Bettles and Naomi Folkard, marked Great Britain's return to the podium in the women's team recurve event. That same year she won gold at the European Games in Minsk with the same teammates, demonstrating consistency across major competitions. Pitman represented Great Britain at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where she reached the third elimination round in the individual event before losing to eventual silver medalist Elena Osipova.
She also competed in the women's team event. At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, she was eliminated in the round of 32 individually and in the round of 16 with the women's team. Her silver medal in the women's recurve at the 2022 World Games and gold at the 2023 European Games further underscore her standing in the sport. Pitman's academic background in history and intelligence studies complements her athletic career, and she continues to compete at the highest level.
More in World Archery Championships Medalists
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Bryony Pitman (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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