Bedford’s up and coming archery star, Illaria Knibb has continued the good news into 2026, achieving selection for Team GB at the upcoming European Indoor Championships in Bulgaria.
The news caps a superb calendar year for Illaria, who has risen sharply through the ranks in the Barebow archery category throughout 2025, culminating in a European silver medal at the JVE Open in the Netherlands in November.
Read: Bedford’s Illaria Knibb wins European archery silver in Eindhoven
Illaria is one of eight athletes due to take part at the European Indoor Championships taking place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria from 16 February, and is one of three barebow competitors, alongside Victoria Semple and Anastasia Wilson.
Non-Olympic Programme Manager, Jon Nott, commented: “This is a very exciting platform for the barebow archers from the UK to showcase the level of talent we bring as a country.
“The event provides them the opportunity to represent GB at an international level, and we hope for great things for this team.”
As is the case with many sports in the UK, the opportunity to travel to mainland Europe for international championships does not come cheap, and Illaria – along with the Bedfordshire County Archery Association – are fundraising to ensure Illaria gets her shot at European gold.
The team are aiming to raise £1,600 to fund their tilt at the European Championships, and are nearly at their target. You can donate to their efforts here.
Gold in the Nationals
Preparation for the European championships are now well underway, with Illaria winning gold at the National Championships.
Illaria continued her run by taking gold in the Barebow Women’s category after a series of competitive head-to-heads, beating Jessica Lethbridge in the finals to secure her gold medal.
René Bekker, also of Clophill Archery Club, claimed his own gold after a storming run of fantastic scores.
Nicole Henniker attended her first national indoor tournament, initially competing in the senior category and landed herself in the top 32 in a head-to-head against the bronze medallist Helen Ballie.
The following day, Nicole competed in the Under 18 Barebow Women’s category where she scored 530 in claiming a gold medal of her own, with further success coming from Forrest Hyde in the Junior Indoor National Championships, as he landed a bronze.
Attention now turns to Bulgaria, and with Illaria narrowly missing out on gold in the Netherlands at the back end of 2025, she has a real chance of achieving European gold with her British teammates out in Bulgaria.
You can follow Illaria’s progress in the tournament taking place from 16-21 February via the World Archery page here.
