16 July 2010 - Upsets in Eliminations!

Upsets in Eliminations – Finalists are known! Visegrad - 16 July 2010   Today was the big eliminations day at the World Archery Field Championships in Visegrad. The field is cut down from 16 to 8, then to 4 and finally 2 competitors who will battle for gold on Sunday. Let’s see how this is happening.  Sunny, 33 degrees Celsius for this eliminations day. The individuals do a track of 12 targets to cut the field from 16 to 8 athletes. Then the elite eight will shoot on eight targets to select the four finalists. Finally the fortunate four, these will play semifinals on a match format over 4 targets. All the distances to the targets were known. A big day of intense competition!   Recurve Men Michele FRANGILLI (ITA) was the best recurve man this morning with 184 points and 5.11 / 6 average per arrow. Victor WUNDERLE (USA) and Alan WILLS (GBR) photo had 176, closely followed by Luca PALAZZI (ITA), 175. Sebastian ROHRBERG (GER) achieved 171. Jon SHALES (GBR) was the last qualified athlete in this category this morning with 166 points, just one point better than Sven GIESA (GER).   FRANGILLI was again the best in the first afternoon session with 123 points over eight targets (a steady 5.13 average). WILLS with 122 points and ROHRBERG, 119, also made it to the semifinals. However, the last favourite WUNDERLE had to play a three-man shoot-off for only one place. He was tied at 117 with SHALES and ISHIZU. In the shoot-off, WUNDERLE made 3, Yu ISHIZU (JPN) 4 and SHALES 5! He made it to the semifinals photo!   SHALES then faced the favourite FRANGILLI in a four-target match, therefore a total of 12 arrows. In case of tie, they would go to a sudden death shoot-off with a maximum of three arrows. This is the format for all the semifinals. This one did not need to go to a shoot-off as SHALES surprisingly defeated FRANGILLI, 58-53. In the second semi, the other British did not let any chance to ROHRBERG. WILLS won 60-53! It will be an all British final on Sunday.  Recurve Women Amy OLIVER (GBR) was the best in the first elimination track of 12 targets. She shot 169 (average 4.69), slightly ahead of Jessica TOMASI (ITA) who did 167. Christine BJERENDAL (SWE) was 3rd with 166, ahead of Naomi FOLKARD (GBR), Elena RICHTER (163), Marina PRELIPCEAN (BEL). The 2009 World Games winner Carole FERRIOU (FRA) just passed it at the 7th place with 155, one point more than the 8th-placed Lisa UNRUH (GER) and Inge de JONG (NED). These last two had to go to a shoot-off, won by UNRUH 4-2!   Exit the 2008 silver medallist Elin KATTSROM (SWE), the 2006 world champion Dolores CEKADA (SLO) and Nathalie DIELEN (SUI).   TOMASI continued leading in the afternoon session with 119 points. She increased her average, as most of the recurve women competitors, reaching 4.96 per arrow. RICHTER (GER) and BJERENDAL also qualified to the semifinals with respectively 117 and 115. There was a tie between the two British archers OLIVER and FOLKARD for 4th place! Both archers had 111 on the course. FOLKARD won this shoot-off, 4-3!  This was also the end of the road for two-time World Games winner and three-time world field champion FERRIOU.   TOMASI and FOLKARD must have been really nervous during their semifinal. Both archers made mistakes, but FOLKARD was a little better. She won 47-43. The other semifinal reached a better level and Christine BJERENDAL, daughter of Olympian and multiple field world champion Goran, beat RICHTER 55-54.   Compound Men Jari HAAVISTO (FIN) was a surprised leader after the first elimination with 205 points (average 5.69). Dave COUSINS (USA) did not shoot as well as in qualifications on this round but took the 2nd place with 204. Jeremy THIERRY (FRA) and Morgan LUNDIN (SWE) made it in good position with 203 points. Dejan SITAR (SLO), 2009 World Games winner Kevin WILKEY (USA) and 2008 world champion Rod MENZER (USA) just qualified with 200 points! Marcus LAUBE was 9th with one point less, 199. Among the notable eliminated players, Sander DOLERMAN (NED), Stephane DARDENNE (FRA), Slavko TURSIC (SLO) and the fans favourite Tibor ONDRIK (HUN)   COUSINS considerably increased his average to 5.88 over the second course of eliminations. He won it with 141 points, ahead of WILKEY, 138. Then it was a massive tie for the two last remaining places. HAAVISTO, THIERRY, Jose Maria RODRIGUEZ (ESP) and MENZER had 135 points! They all made 6 with he first shoot-off arrow. They only THIERRY had 6, the three others had 5. In the last shoot-off arrow MENZER was the only one with a 6. Therefore, a third American, MENZER, and the French THIERRY went through photo!  Exit LUNDIN with 132 points and Dejan SITAR (SLO) with 131.   In the semifinal, both COUSINS and MENZER shot really well. However the 2002 world champion beat the 2008 one. COUSINS won 70-67 and kept his average over 5.8! The other semifinal was much closer and finally WILKEY defeated THIERRY 64-63.   Compound Women World Games winner Petra GOEBEL (GER), née FRIEDL, emerged on top for the first time in the week during these morning eliminations. She scored 197 points (average 5.47). She preceded past world champion Françoise VOLLE (FRA) who had 194, Amalia STUCCHI (ITA), 193, and Gladys WILLEMS (BEL), 192. Anne LANTEE (FIN), née LAURILLA, was the last qualifier with 187 points. These eliminations brought a lot of surprises: exit some of big names such as the No. 1 from qualifications Ivana BUDEN (CRO), the World Games silver medallist Inge ENTHOVEN (NED), Lucy HOLDERNESS (GBR) and the 2008 silver medallist adn past world champion Ulrika SJOWALL (SWE).   WILLEMS was the best on the second elimination course. She scored 133 points (average 5.54), ahead of LANTEE, 132 and VOLLE, 131. The last place had to be decided during a shoot-off as well, between Isabell DANIELSSON (SWE) and GOEBEL, who both had 126 points. The Swedish athlete won the shoot-off 6-5!   It will be a Nordic final on Sunday! Both DANIELSSON and LANTEE defeated their opponents, respectively WILLEMS and VOLLE, 62-59.   Barebow MenDouble world champion and double World Games winner Erik JONSSON (SWE) emerged on top of the morning eliminations with 169 points (4.69 average). The No. 1 in qualifications Pasi AHJOKIVI (FIN) had 161, ahead of Bobby LARSSON (SWE), Giuseppe SEIMANDI and Sergio Massimo CASSIANI (ITA).   The surge of JONSSON in the morning eliminations did not last long. Despite his great record, he finished last in afternoon session with 98 points. The other favourites went through: AHJOKIVI had 114 points (average 4.75), SEIMANDI, 112, CASSIANI, 108 and LARSSON, 106.   The semifinals were very close! PASI defeated LARSSON 53-52, while the Italian dual CASSIANI and SEIMANDI ended in a tie 55-55! In the shoot-off, both archers first shot a 6, then a 4! At the end, SEIMANDI won it 5-4 at the last arrow photo.   Barebow Women The top three stayed on top, but the No. 3 in qualifications overtook the No. 2. The morning ranking was then Eleonora STROBBE (ITA), 159 (average 4.42), 2005 World Games winner Monika JENTGES (GER), 156, Christine GAUTHE (FRA), 147. Luciana PENNACCHI (ITA) also had 147. The world champion Becky NELSON-HARRIS (USA) just missed the cut for one point with 132. Victoria KALMARU (GBR) was 8th.   In the afternoon session, GAUTHE jumped to 1st place, tied with STROBBE with 100 points. JENTGES was not far behind with 99, while Andrea RAIGEL took the last spot with 95.   GAUTHE was again the best woman in this category during the semifinal. She beat RAIGEL 50-48. In the other semi, the favourite STROBBE beat JENTGES 48-42.   Junior categories Fabian COCHIN (FRA) was the best Recurve Junior Men this morning with 167 points. Ana UMER (SLO) had 158 on the women side. Sean ELZA (USA) did 199 in Compound Junior Men and Kalle PUMAN (SWE) a super 170 in Barebow Junior Men.   COCHIN continued to lead in the afternoon with 119 points. Elena MORABITO (ITA) was the best recurve junior woman this time with 107. Alex BRIDGMAN (GBR) joined ELZA on top with 137. Emeline SALMON (FRA) was the best compound junior woman in the afternoon with 122. Finally, PUMAN had 108.   In the recurve junior men semifinals, the two archers dominating during the week could not make it to the last step. Marco MORELLO (ITA) beat Fabien COCHIN (FRA) 52-51. Jarrod NICHOLSON (AUS) took over Florian DORER (GER) 54-49.  In Recurve Junior Women, two of the favourites met in the semifinals: Zoe GOBBELS (BEL) beat Ana UMER (SLO) 50-49. In the second semi, Elena MORABITO (ITA) won against Heather TRAFFORD (USA) 49-38 photo.   In Compound Junior Men, the favourite Sean ELZA (USA) had a close match versus his teammate Adam GALLANT, 65-64! The other one was even closer, way closer! Alex BRIDGMAN (GBR) and Florian OSWALD (GER) ended up tied at 63-63. Then they both shot three times a 6 in the shoot-off! However, OSWALD was the closest to the centre in the last arrow!   In Compound Junior Women, Emeline SALMON (FRA) beat the local favourite Fanni BOGNAR (HUN) 60-52, while Hunter JACKSON (USA) defeated the outdoor target specialist and past junior world champion Anastasia ANASTASIO (ITA); 59-58.   In Barebow Junior Men, PUMAN beat Marco SPANO (ITA) 52-46 and Raphael PETIT MINUESA just defeated Robert MALLON (GBR) after a close match, 50-49.   The individual gold and bronze finals will be played on Sunday at the Visegrad Castle. Tomorrow the team event will take place. The team finals will also be shot in the Castle!   World Archery Communication Didier MIEVILLE