1 May 2007 - Bouillot breaks the World Record!

Bouillot breaks the World Record! Varese, 1 May 2007   Amandine Bouillot (FRA) scored 1404 pts in Compound Women to break the American Van Natta’s world record for a FITA Round! Gladys Willems (BEL) reached 1400 as well. The Italians dominated the Recurve Men.   After receiving congratulations from about the whole field of archers, Amandine Bouillot said: “It’s fantastic! I really wanted to break this world record. I shot 1403 in a non-official competition in France last week, so I knew I could do it! I also wanted to show that there are good compound women in France and not only in Russia or in the USA. I am in a good shape this year and in the last World Cup stage in Ulsan (KOR), I identified a few areas I had to improve. I managed to get more stable and a bit softer in my shooting. I am a very calm person so I did not feel too euphoric until the end. Of course, the matches on Thursday will be another story but I’ll take one arrow at a time.”   The qualifications of the Meteksan Archery World Cup Stage 2 started today in the nice town of Varese (ITA), just an arrow shot from the Lake Maggiore. Although it is 1 May, the Recurve Men and Compound Women had a long day of work from 9:30 am until 7:00 pm. They had to play a FITA Round: the men shot 36 arrows at 90, 70, 50 and 30 meters, while the women took on the 70, 60, 50 and 30 meter targets.   Compound Women It seemed to be finally the revolt of the traditional European countries against the Russian and American domination. Bouillot (FRA) and Willems (BEL) were already “one and two” at 70m with 347 pts. Agudo (ESP) was 3rd with 346 pts; Ericsson (SWE) was 5th with 343 pts and Holderness (GBR) 6th with 341 pts. Where were the usual “fab four” ? Van Natta (USA) was 4th with 344 pts, Goncharova (RUS) 7th, Kazantseva (RUS) 15th, and Davis (USA) at a rock bottom 23rd place.   Davis and Kazantseva, who is actually fighting sickness, came back strong at 60m scoring 351 pts. They took respectively 4th and 3rd place at this distance. However, Bouillot and Willems again took one and two! The 353 pts of Bouillot gave her a midway total of 700 pts on pace for a world record!   After the 50m distance, the two ladies had actually the chance to beat the world record. Willems and Bouillot were tied at 1044 pts and needed to score 359 out of 360 at the next distance (30m) to break the record. Davis definitely came back on 5th place scoring a best score of 346 pts at 50m and Buden (CRO) reached the 6th place.   Bouillot capped a magnificent day of shooting with a perfect score at 30m and reached 1404 pts! Willems was a bit nervous shooting a 356 pts, but that was enough to achieve the mythical barrier of 1400 pts in total. Willems said: “1400 pts at last! I felt the pressure at the end and drop one last point with my last three arrows but finally it happened – I achieved 1400! It has been a long way since my 1398 (redaction note – world record at that time). Now I have a super bow. It is fast and helps me a lot although I only draw 48 pounds.” The Swedish Ericsson finished at 3rd place of the qualification with 1395 pts, while Van Natta took 4th place. The American said: “I am very happy for Amandine. She is a great archer and she shot terrific today. Records are made to be broken and there is no limit.”   In the team qualification (adding the score of the three archers), France got a small edge with 4122 pts, ahead of Russia at 4115 pts and the USA at 4113 pts.   Recurve Men The 90 meters distance usually give a decisive advantage throughout the day and the local Italians made sure they impressed their opponents. They took three of the four first places on this distance. Di Buo (ITA) scored a nice 323 pts ahead of Mexican Velez Sanchez at 318 pts. The Italians followed with Frangilli at 3rd with 318 pts, Nespoli at 4th with 316 and Galiazzo at 6th with 306 pts. The Junior World Champion Girouille (FRA) just interfered at 5th place with 311 pts.   These guys were still dominating the overall ranking after 36 more arrows at the 70m distance. However, Di Buo lost a bit of his lead to Velez Sanchez (338 pts at 70m vs. 341 pts). Two archers improved significantly at 70 meter: Bekker (UKR), scoring 339 pts, and Petersson (SWE) with 335 pts.   After the 50m distance, the three Italians took the forefront: Nespoli, Frangilli and Di Buo were tied at a total of 994 pts! Velez Sanchez could not keep the pace and hold 4th place with 982 pts. The two Ukrainians Serdyuk and Ivashko did well at 50 meters (331 and 339 pts) and came back on the ranking.   Nespoli got the last word at 30m, scoring 359 pts and took the number 1 seed after the qualifications with 1353 pts. Frangilli is 2nd on his birthday with 1348 pts and Di Buo finished with 1344 pt. The Italian trio was truly impressive!   Italy, of course, took the team lead with 4032 pts (a new European record) ahead of Ukraine, 3980 pts and Russia 3920 pts.   Tomorrow the Recurve Women and the Compound Men take the field. On Thursday, the individual single elimination matches start. This will be another exciting story!   Didier Miéville FITA Communication