The French international opens up to Bow.

Interview by Mimi Landström

"How did I spend lockdown? In my apartment. Luckily I was able to put a target at 2m in my living room. And I had my dog!"

Pierre Plihon, one of the most charismatic archers on the international circuit, seems to have an ability to put a brave face on pretty much anything.

Plihon first made the national recurve side in 2014, bursting onto the scene by winning European team gold and individual bronze. He was part of the team who won silver at the 2017 World Championships in Mexico. He also qualified for Rio 2016 along with Lucas Daniel and Jean-Charles Valladont.

PIERRE SHOOTING AT THE EUROPEAN GAMES IN MINSK, 2019

This year he hit new heights, posting a 695 indoor qualification, making the top 16 at the Indoor World Series Finals and being once again named to the French national side - even if their opportunities to shoot have, needless to say, been mostly curtailed this summer. In February he was shooting "hot as embers", in the words of his coach Olivier Grillat.

When the announcement came that Tokyo was postponed, "it was like a bomb in my whole body. I got really depressed."