Hemel Hempstead archer Jess Stretton's hopes are ended by GB team-mate

Hemel Hempstead' s Jess Stretton's hopes of a gold medal at Tokyo were ended after she was beaten by her team-mate and best friend Phoebe Paterson Pine.

The current world number one set a new Paralympic archery record in the ranking round - scoring 694 - but was beaten 141-140 by Phoebe Paterson Pine in their second round all-British match.

Phoebe Paterson Pine, the current world number 15, put in an amazingly strong personal performance at the Paralympics in Tokyo to win the gold medal in the Women’s Individual Compound Open yesterday (August 30).

Speaking about her gold medal win, Paterson Pine said: “I’ve worked incredibly hard for it and there was always a chance, just because of the amount of hard work that I’ve put in, but as an athlete you’re always a little bit not too sure - so I’ve a lot more confidence in myself now.

"After defeating Jess I just felt terrible taking my own teammate out. But I think after winning the semi finals was when I really thought right OK I have a chance at this now - that was when I just wanted to go out and give it my absolute all.

“I’ve definitely won this medal for me and her, definitely.”

On August 29, the Mixed Team Compound Open saw ParalympicsGB duo Jess Stretton and Nathan Macqueen lose a close quarter final match to a strong team from Iran by 151-153.

Stretton and Macqueen finished 6th overall.

Jess said: “Nathan and I actually shot really well. We did all we could given the circumstances. It was going to go one way or the other and we just got unlucky.

"We were as best prepared as we could have been. Even just to get here is an amazing achievement.

"We were looking at the scores earlier and they were all lower than what we shot. I think If we’d have been up against anyone else, we might have had a different result."

On the performances, Neil Armitage, CEO of Archery GB said, “Jess and Nathan shot really well in the mixed team event but came up against an Iranian team that were able to get the edge on our determined duo."

At the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games Jess, who has cerebral palsy, won gold at just 16-years-old, the youngest archer at the games. The following year she was made an MBE for her services to archery.

Since Rio she has changed category to the Women’s Individual Compound Open, coming second in the World Para Championships in the Netherlands in 2020.