First Gold for Sandrine VANDIONANT (FRA)

  The medal matches of the Archery World Cup Stage 3 in Ogden took place today in the Lindquist Stadium. The recurve shot in the afternoon with a beautiful on the Rockies Mountains, while the compound played during a wonderful night session!   Recurve Men   Bronze Medal – IM Dong-Hyun vs Crispin DUENAS (CAN) The winner of the 2007 World Cup Final and 2009 World silver medallist, who is also an Olympic team gold medallist from Beijing 2008, showed his great form earlier this week by winning the qualifications.   The No 7 seeded DUENAS placed 2nd at the World Cup Stage 1 and 10th at the Ulsan Worlds in 2009. He is the only non-Korean to compete for a medal in individual recurve men’s category today.   Shooting first, IM opened with 8-9-10. DUENAS scored x10-9-9 to win the first set. IM shot another total of 27 in the second set (8-9-x10), a total matched by DUENAS (8-x10-9). The score moved to 3-1 for the Canadian. The archer from Korea was steadier in the following two sets (28-27 and 29-28) to take the lead 5-3. In the fifth set, DUENAS shot x10-9-9 and was outscored by IM (9-10-x10). The Korean won the bronze medal, 7-3.   Today the recurve archer Thomas AUBERT (FRA) gave us his commentary: IM was more nervous at the beginning of the match, and Crispin took that opportunity to take the lead. The situation was reversed at the halfway point: IM was getting stronger and stronger while Crispin was becoming more nervous.   Gold Medal – KIM Woojin (KOR) vs OH Jin-Hyek (KOR) Only 18 years old and competing here in his first major international meet, KIM will be one to watch in the coming years. His opponent OH Jin-Hyek placed 4th at the 2009 Worlds where he also won gold with his team.   Here in Ogden, KIM started his match perfectly with 30 points to take the lead 2-0. OH was not very steady in the second set with 9-10-7, allowing KIM to pass him with x10-9-10. The young archer led 4-0, but a 9 cost him to lose the third set 29-30. Both archers scored 28 points in the fourth set. KIM led 5-3.   Thomas AUBERT: KIM was very solid in the first sets, allowing him to build a strong advantage over OH. Despite OH’s reacting in the third and fourth sets, KIM was able to stay focused and efficient and shoot in the gold during the last set. This allowed him to win the match.   Recurve Women   Bronze Medal – JOO Hyun-Jung (KOR) vs YUN Ok-Hee (KOR) This match featured two teammates with an exceptional record of success. They have won several team gold medals together, most notably at the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 Worlds. YUN won the individual bronze in Beijing and at the Copenhagen World Cup Final last year, while JOO is the current individual World Champion. These archers already met last year in Antalya where YUN had won 113-108.   YUN won the first set (9-8-10 to 8-8-9) to lead 2-0. She shot the same total in the second set, while JOO was less precise at 7-9-8. YUN led 4-0 and took the final set with x10-9-x10, just one point better than JOO’s 9-x10-9. She won the bronze medal 6-0.   Thomas AUBERT: YUN is the most experienced of the two. It’s her 9th World Cup podium and she has already won four times. She has been much more consistent and precise than JOO.   Gold Medal – KIM Moon-Jung vs KI Bo Bae Two relatively unknown archers will shoot this final. KI had disappeared from the international circuit after becoming World University Champion in 2008. Today, the first set ended in a draw at 1-1 (28-28). KIM shot better in the second set (9-10-9 against 9-9-9) to take the lead 3-1. KIM went on to take the third set (29-26) and the fourth (29-28) to win the match 7-1 and her second gold medal of the day!   Thomas AUBERT: The more consistent of the two Korean girls emerged as the winner. They both shot a very good match and the wind was lighter than earlier in the afternoon.   Compound Men   Bronze Medal – Pierre-Julien DELOCHE (FRA) vs Rodger WILLET Jr. (USA) The American, who was team world champion in 2007, is making his first appearance on the World Cup this season. WILLET has a shot at a bronze medal again, after he lost it in Antalya in dramatic fashion. After hitting 11 straight shots out of 12, he was overcome by Vladas SIGAUSKAS (LTU) who hit 11 straight shots of his own. As for DELOCHE, he has been competing at the highest international level since 2007 and recently won the European Indoor Championships with his team.   In this match, WILLET started with 9 hits to win the first three sets and lead 6-0. DELOCHE shot a perfect fourth set (3-2) to trail 2-6. But WILLET reacted with 3 more hits in the fifth set (DELOCHE had 2) to win the match 8-2.   Thomas AUBERT: Even though Pierre-Julien took advantage upon WILLET’s mistake, the American didn’t give Pierre-Julien a chance as he shot an almost perfect match, hitting 14 out of 15 arrows.  Gold Medal – Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA) vs Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA) This final featured two archers who have been among the most successful in recent years. Jorge JIMENEZ became famous is his country for winning the 2007 World Cup Final in Dubai–which he won over GELLENTHIEN. The 24-year-old American also has a lot of experience. Third at Worlds in 2003 and second in 2007, Braden is also a multiple World Cup event winner (2009 World Cup stage 1 in Santo Domingo, 2007 Stage 2 in Varese). He was also Indoor World Champion in 2007. The American has twice defeated Jorge JIMENEZ, once in the gold medal final at the 2007 World Cup Stage 2 (119-118) and in semifinals at the 2009 World Cup Final (120-114), a score that had granted him the world record with eight Xs.   Braden GELLENTHIEN competed in the final at the last World Cup stage in Antalya, which he lost to DAMSBO. He was hungry for revenge in Ogden, starting with a perfect set (3 hits to 1) to take the lead 2-0. Both archers had two hits each in the next two sets, moving the score to 4-2 for GELLENTHIEN. The American won the fifth set (2-1) to lead 6-2. Shooting first, JIMENEZ hit three arrows in the final set. GELLENTHIEN matched that score, meaning that he gathered one more set point to win the gold medal (7-3).   Thomas AUBERT: JIMENEZ made too many mistakes and couldn’t do better than tie over three sets, while Braden GELLENTHIEN shot 12 hits out of 15 arrows.    Compound Women   Bronze Medal – Jamie VAN NATTA (USA)vs Irina MARKOVIC (NED) The winner of the World Cup Final 2008 VAN NATTA and the 4th place-getter from the 2007 Leipzig Worlds MARKOVIC already met in Porec this year in the 1/8 elimination round. MARKOVIC had won this match 4-2.   In this final for bronze, the archers tied after the first set 1-1 (2-2). Jamie won the next two sets 3-1 to lead 5-1. However MARKOVIC reacted and took the fourth and fifth set (3-2, 2-1) and tie at 5-5. The archer from the Netherlands missed an arrow in the last set, while VAN NATTA displayed three perfect shots to win the match and the bronze medal 7-5.   Thomas AUBERT: As expected Jamie VAN NATTA won this final, hitting 78% of her arrows and all three arrows in three different sets.  Gold Medal – Doris JONES (CAN) vs Sandrine VANDIONANT (FRA) The 21-year-old Canadian archer reached a gold medal final for the first time. VANDIONANT’s major achievements are a 4th place at the 2003 Worlds in New York and a 3rd place at the Porec World Cup this year.   In their first encounter here in Ogden, JONES won the first set 2-1. Both archers tied in the next set and JONES was now leading 3-1. The French archer replied with a perfect set (3 hits to 2) to come back at 3-3. The score then moved to 4-4 after both archers had only 1 hit. Sandrine took the fifth set (3-1) to lead 6-4. With three more hits (one more than her opponent) the French archer won the sixth set and the gold medal!   Thomas AUBERT: Despite trailing 1-3 in the beginning, Sandrine managed to shoot almost perfectly in the last four sets, hitting 10 out of 12 arrows to win her first World Cup gold medal.   The World Cup stage 3 has come to an end. Perfect organisation, great fans, superb maches! See you in Shanghai for stage 4!   Vanahé ANTILLE World Archery Communication