South Korea's An San and Kim Je Deok display the first Olympic archery mixed team gold medals ©Getty Images

South Korea's An San and Kim Je Deok, 20 and 17 respectively, won the first Olympic archery mixed team gold here by a 5-3 scoreline after a dramatic final set against the more experienced Dutch pairing of Gabrielle Schloesser and Steve Wijler.

After coming from a set down to win the next two, the prodigious young talents of South Korea – An smashed the Olympic record in women’s qualifying yesterday and Kim won the men’s qualifying – went into the fourth and final set requiring a draw to secure the new title.

The Dutch duo - Schloesser switched to The Netherlands in 2017 after competing for Mexico under her maiden name of Bayardo - started strongly with a 10 and 9, but the Koreans responded with two scores of 10.

Wijler, world bronze medallist in 2017, finished with a 10 and Schloesser, who, with her previous partner Sjef van den Berg, won gold at this season’s World Cup in Lausanne, scored a final maximum to put the pressure back on the Koreans with a final score of 39 out of a possible 40.

South Korea's An San and Kim Je Deok, 20 and 17 respectively, have won the first ever Olympic archery mixed team gold ©Getty Images
South Korea's An San and Kim Je Deok, 20 and 17 respectively, have won the first ever Olympic archery mixed team gold ©Getty Images

Kim stepped up first and scored 10.

The last shot went to his partner.

A nine was enough to draw the set and earn a place on the top of the podium.

The cries of jubilation from the Korean team followers echoed over the empty stands at the end of a day’s competition marked by blustering wind and intense heat.

"It’s the first time for both women and men to take here at Tokyo 2020, so I’m really happy to take the gold medal for the first time," said An.

“I’m really happy to take a gold medal," Kim added.

"It has really taken a long time training and it's meaningful to me.” 

At the Rio 2016 Olympics, South Korea won all four available archery titles - men's individual and team, women's individual and team. Now there are five gold medals to be won, and they have made the best possible start.

Reflecting on what was the first Dutch Olympic archery medal since 2000, Wijler, who had effectively tipped the third set with a score of six, said: "I don’t think we could have had better preparation for this competition.

"We have trained very hard and we are really proud to win the silver."

Earlier the bronze had been claimed by Mexico’s world number three pairing Alejandra Valencia and Luis Alvarez against Turkey.

 The Turkish pairing of Mete Gazoz, the 2018 world junior silver medallist, and Yasemin Anagoz, who won individual and team gold at the 2018 European Championships, lost the first set 36-34, but then levelled the match as the Mexican pair struggled.

Alvarez scored a two with the first of his two shots - the other was an eight - and they lost the second set 36-27.

But the Mexican sun came out again as they went 4-2 up, winning the third set emphatically by 39-36, one point off perfection, with Alvarez contributing two 10s.

The tide had turned, and the Mexican pair swiftly confirmed victory with a 34-33 win in the fourth set to take bronze by a 6-2 scoreline.