The Americans WILLET and ANSCHUTZ win the first stage in compound

 Compound Men Individual – Gold Rodger WILLET Jr. (USA/16) v Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA/11) WILLET and JIMENEZ met last year in quarterfinal at the World Cup Stage 2 in Antalya with a win 5-1 by the American. The two archers are close by age (WILLET was born in 1962 and JIMENEZ in 1967) and also by their world ranking: the American is currently 6th, while his opponent from El Salvador is 5th. WILLET has proved to be in great shape lately with a victory at the Arizona Cup in April and a 2nd place at the Panamerican Games Qualifier in Santo Domingo in March. JIMENEZ won the World Cup Final in Dubai back in 2007 and finished 5th in Edinburgh last year.   Amazing opening of the match for WILLET, the most consistent archer of the week here in Porec, leading the Longines Prize for Precision: X10-10-X10! This gave him a 1-point lead over JIMENEZ after the first end (30-29). The American maintained the fantastic pace with another 30-point second end to increase the lead at 60-58. Same 3-arrow series for each archer and same story: WILLET added another perfect end and another point to his advantage to lead 90-87. On the way to a possible world record (for that he needed to remain perfect up to the end of the match), the American lost a bit of focus with two 9s in the fourth end, but kept the lead at 118-116. He regained his self-control to release perfect arrows again to win gold 148-144. Though shooting only 9s and 10s, his opponent JIMENEZ could only take his hat off to the man on form at the moment.   Compound Men Individual – Bronze Roberto HERNANDEZ (ESA/4) v Martin DAMSBO (DEN/10) HERNANDEZ, 22 years old, won the bronze medal at the Shenzhen 2010 University World Championships. Three years older and ranked 4th in the world, DAMBSO's most notable individual results are 3rd places at the Leipzig 2007 World Championships and Vittel 2008 European Championships.   DAMSBO had the advantage of being already on the field before to shoot in the team's gold final. His opponent from El Salvador started the match with an 8 and trailed by two after three arrows (27-29). With a fantastic, perfect second end DAMSBO doubled his lead at 59-55. The Dane continued on a high pace to maintain a 4-point advantage (88-84). HERNANDEZ managed to take back one point with 29 points in the fourth end, but DAMSBO seemed comfortable, being on the field already before and knowing the wind. Except for an initial 8 that was very costly, combined with more 9s than his contender, HERNANDEZ shot a quite good match, but faced a more experienced DAMSBO who clinched bronze 145-142.  Compound Women Individual – Gold Erika ANSCHUTZ (USA/4) v Viktoria BALZHANOVA (RUS/39) ANSCHUTZ and BALZHANOVA, both 22 years old, met in semifinals at the 2009 Universiade in Belgrade with a win for the reigning European champion from Russia. But her opponent is now ranked 2nd in the world and finished 3rd at the World Cup Final 2010 in Edinburgh.   Advantage to America's ANSCHUTZ in the first end with 29 points versus 28 for her opponent from Russia. The match was close and the lead remained American for one point at 58-57 at the half-way mark. With two 10s to close the third end BALZHANOVA tied up the match at 85-85. Feeling danger coming, ANSCHUTZ put pressure with two 10s and a 9. She recovered the lead 114-113. BALZHANOVA's inexperience showed during the match and even more at the end. Though still in the match before the last arrow, she closed it with an 8, which gave ANSCHUTZ the opportunity for a 10 leading to the win (143-141).   Compound Women Individual – Bronze Diane WATSON (USA/8) v Laura LONGO (ITA/14) The two ladies are in a good shape right now. WATSON was 2nd at the Panamerican Games Qualifier in Santo Domingo back in March this year. To get to the bronze medal match in Porec, she beat two French competitors TCHEPIKOFF and LEBECQUE and her teammate COLIN (No. 1 seed). In the semis, the American lost to another teammate ANSCHUTZ (No. 4). The Italian LONGO won the European Grand Prix in Antalya three weeks ago.   The American lady opened the match with an 8 but followed with two 10s. With 29 points in the first end, her opponent from Italy took a 1-point lead at 29-28. It was LONGO's turn to open with an 8 and the match reversed 56-55 in favour of WATSON. Fantastic third end for LONGO with two X10 and a 10! The Italian took back the lead at 85-83. It seemed like WATSON was chasing her sight… while LONGO was in the fully in the match. The gap was maintained with one end to go at 113-111. WATSON clinched the match with 29 points out of 30, not enough to recover, as LONGO added another 29 to win bronze 142-140.  Compound Mixed Team USA (1) v Slovenia (10) The top seeded mixed team, with Christie COLLIN/Reo WILDE, faces Slovenia's Toja CERNE/Slavko TURSIC. The Slovenians defeated the No. 2 and No. 3 seeded teams, Belgium and France, on their way to the gold final.   Back on the field just after shooting in the men team's gold medal match WILDE scored two 10s in the first end. With his teammate shooting 9-10, the Americans took a 1-point lead (39-38). The young lady from Slovenia CERNE seemed really nervous scoring an 8 in the second end. Her teammate TURSIC also closed the second end with an 8. With WILDE releasing only perfect arrows up to the half-way point, the Americans doubled their advantage at 77-73. The Slovenians regained their self-control in the third end. The two teams scored three 10s and a 9 and the gap remained at 116-112. WILDE certainly had a big advantage being on the field before for another match. He proved once again his great skills shooting only 10s in this match to offer victory to Team USA by 155-150.     Compound Men Team USA (1) v Denmark (3) Same gold final as last year between USA and Denmark! At the time USA came out the winner 30-28 in a shoot-off after the teams were tied at 229-229.   Most of the shooters started with arrows on the left side of the target. After three perfect arrows to open the match LAURSEN, JOHANNESSEN and DAMBSO seemed to realise they were ahead of the powerful Team USA and they started to get nervous. The Danes then scored 9-8-9 to trail by two points (56-58). Both teams seeded to have calmed down and started shooting as they are used to. Each scored a fantastic third end with 59 points, and GELLENTHIEN, WILLET and WILDE kept the lead at 117-115. Team USA stayed in control of the match as the two teams added 57 points to their total (174-172). Five 10s in the last end for the Americans to answer to four 10s by their opponents and clinch gold one more time in Porec (233-230)!  Compound Women Team Sweden (9) v France (3) Sweden and France met once in the past in quarterfinals at the World Championships 2009 in Ulsan where the Swedes were the winners. DANIELSSON, JOHANSSON and SJOWALL shot for Sweden. The latter was 2001 target world champion and then shot field archery for a few years. She is making her comeback in target archery this year. CHESSE, LEBECQUE and TCHEPIKOFF were the French representatives in this match.   Sweden trailed by six points (51-57) after the first end with everything going wrong on their last arrow. It was a 5 with only two seconds left on the clock. The Swedes looked a little tense… But they managed to recover two points taking advantage of an 8 from their opponents (107-111). The gap even narrowed at three after the third French shooter CHESSE scored a 7 to clinch the third end (166-163 for France). On the last arrow France needed 7 or better to win and their scored a 10 to clinch gold (221-217)!   Stay tuned on www.worldarchery.org for the afternoon session with recurve shooting their finals at 70 metres!   World Archery Communication