Katie Jennings is focused on two key targets – a World Number 1 slot and selection for a future Olympics
Compound archery makes its Olympic debut in Los Angeles 2028 but it’s the Games after LA that 19-year-old Newry athlete Katie Jennings is firmly targeting.
Katie has already achieved her key goals of being selected to represent Northern Ireland and Team GB and to win gold medals for both, now her sights are focussed on maintaining her position within the GB squad and to compete at the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane, Australia.
“My other dream goal is to be a World Number One and having completed my A Levels at Newry High School I’m currently making archery my main priority and am travelling to Lilleshall in England for training sessions every other weekend which is a huge commitment.
“Having completed an instructor course for archery I’m really enjoying teaching young students in schools and hopefully inspiring more people to get into the sport.”
Katie is just back from Ruse in Bulgaria when earlier in June she won a Gold Medal in the Teams event at the European Youth Cup which she is hugely proud of.
It was during a family holiday in Donegal when she was eight that Katie first tried out archery for fun and her positive experience encouraged her to join her nearest archery club, Ballyvally Archery which is based in Loughbrickland. Katie took a break from the sport when she moved from primary school to Newry High School but made a return to archery when she was 15.
“It was at this stage I came across coach Marty McCullough as he had set up a new archery coaching course and we really just clicked. Marty still trains me today. He is so encouraging and is always at the end of a phone when I’m away at competitions.”
2025 saw Katie take part in her first international competition for Team GB picking up a gold medal in the mixed team final and shooting a PB in the qualification match.
“It’s my proudest moment to date and was in Slovenia competing in the European Cup for the very first time. To be surrounded by so many amazing athletes and to win gold was the most amazing feeling and made all the hard work and training so worthwhile.
“Other achievements I’m proud of include the Northern Ireland records I currently hold: NI Under-18 indoors, Outdoors and Field champion as well as winning the Mixed Team home nations at the annual Youth Festival held in England for 2 consecutive years in 2025 and 2026.”
Katie first became a Mary Peters Trust athlete in 2024 and says she is truly inspired by the relentless promotion and fund raising that Lady Mary Peters does.
“When I attended my first Mary Peters Trust Athletes’ Academy to receive my certificate and meet Mary in person, I noticed that she asked each young person’s name, so that she was able to talk to all of us in a very individual and personal way. I was really impressed.
“Lady Mary has such a general interest in all sports and her passion for young people in sport is amazing. To be a Mary Peters athlete means you get to meet and talk to athletes from so many different sports and hear their sporting journeys.
“You can learn so much from other sports people about how they navigate the ups and downs of their sport. For me, when a competition doesn’t go the way I plan, it’s important for me to process what happened but make sure I get up the next day and put it behind me and move on to the next competition.”
As well as having very supportive parents Katie says her PE teachers at Newry High School have also been brilliant. “Mrs Dunn and Mr Annett helped me to spend so much time and energy on archery, enabling me to fulfil sporting goals working around my academic commitments. I’m thrilled and proud that my teachers have now set up an after-school archery club and hopefully Newry High School will be cheering on more archery champions in the years to come.”
