16 September 2006 - Some talented archers win despite the wind

Some talented archers win despite the wind Athens - 16 September 2006   On the last day of competition, only one top seeded archer fought for a gold medal: Camilla Soemod (DEN). She went all the way and is the new European Champion in Compound Women. In the Compound Men Final, Sébastien Brasseur (FRA) beat teammate Stéphane Dardenne for the gold. In Recurve Men, Magnus Petterson brought a second title to Sweden. In Recuve Women, Almudena Gallardo (ESP) gave a wonderful finish to a very good week for the Spanish team. Team titles were also awarded.   The final day of the European Championships in Athens, was like all the other days, with difficult weather conditions: high temperature and troublesome wind blowing hard in random directions. Due to these peculiar conditions surprises appeared in individual and team winners.   Team matches took place in the morning. Compound Men: the Swedish, with Malm, Lundin and Carlsson, after winning against the Germans in the semifinal (208-192), surpassed without any trouble the Croatian team (216-206). The bronze medal went to Germany who beat Holland 220 to 208. As in almost every match, the inconstant wind troubled the athletes' performances and victories were lost at the very last arrow. This allowed wins of lower ranked teams and unexpected scores. There was a big surprise in the women compound division where Italy, with Salvi, Solato and Atorino, won the gold medal after a hard match against the Russian team 207-204. The bronze medal went to France who won against Holland 204-193.   Another unexpected victory came in the men recurve division, where the Belarusian team with Prylepav, Marusau and Vitorski, won the gold medal beating Spain 193-191. The Third place went to Italy as they defeated Great Britain 206-203. The English, in the women recurve division, with Williamson, Folkard and Needham, won with just one point against the strong Ukrainian team 195-194, while the bronze medal went to Poland who won against Germany 201-187.   The individual finals where shot in the afternoon. Although the weather conditions were the same as in the morning (the wind didn't cease to blow), the matches were spectacular.   In the compound bow men division, the highest podium final was an all French one with Sebastien Brasseur who won against Stephane Dardenne 111-109 while the third place went to the Spanish Jose Duo who defeated Rajko Usaj from Slovenia 110-109. At the end of an exciting competition in the Compound women division, the Danish Camilla Soemod won against the Finnish Anne Laurila 104-103. The bronze medal went to Amandine Bouillot (FRA) who beat Irina Markovic from Holland 107-105.   In the recurve men division the Swedish Magnus Petersson won the gold medal. The amazing Scandinavian athlete confirms his high level surpassing the German archer Michael Frankberg 99-94. The bronze medal went Piotr Piatek from Poland who beat the Spanish Daniel Morillo 102-100. The Spanish Almudena Gallardo confirmed her excellent preparation winning the gold medal in the women recurve bow division against the Russian Tatiana Borodai 101-99. An all Italian match took place for the bronze medal, which was won, in the end, by Pia Carmen Lionetti against her compatriot Elena Tonetta 96-95.   Guido Lo Giudice Alessandra Scilla EMAU / FITARCO   Podiums   INDIVIDUALS COMPOUND MEN 1 Brasseur Sebastien (FRA) 2 Dardenne Stephane (FRA) 3 Duo Jose (ESP)   COMPOUND WOMEN 1 Soemod Camilla (DEN) 2 Laurila Anne (FIN) 3 Bouillot Amandine (FRA)   RECURVE MEN 1 Petersson Magnus (SWE) 2 Frankenberg Michael (GER) 3 Piatek Piotr (POL)   RECURVE WOMEN 1 Gallardo Almudena (ESP) 2 Borodai Tatiana (RUS) 3 Lionetti Pia Carmen (ITA)   TEAM COMPOUND MEN 1 Sweden 2 Croatia 3 Germany   COMPOUND WOMEN 1 Italy 2 Russia 3 France   RECURVE MEN 1 Belarus 2 Spain 3 Italy   RECURVE WOMEN 1 Great Britain 2 Ukraine 3 Poland