22 August 2011 - Athlete of the Week: Christopher PERKINS (CAN)

Athlete of the Week: Christopher PERKINS (CAN) Lausanne – 22 August 2011  The 19-year old Canadian compound archer Christopher PERKINS won the World Archery Championships 2011 in Turin, Italy back in July. At junior age, he was competing in his first-ever senior world championships. This week, he enters the World Archery Youth Championships in Legnica, Poland as thebig favourite in his category.   PERKINS won gold in the compound men's category at the 2011 World Archery Championships in Italy. He upset three of the top archers in the world in the medal round to win the world title: Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA/4) in quarterfinal, the defending world champion (from Ulsan 2009) Reo WILDE (USA/1) in semifinal, and Jesse BROADWATER (USA/2) in the gold final. In his final five matches, PERKINS shot four rounds of 148 and one round of 149 (maximum 150 points).   In Turin, PERKINS also picked up a bronze medal in the team competition with Simon ROUSSEAU and Dietmar TRILLUS (2007 individual world champion).   PERKINS was ranked No. 176 in the world before the Turin World Championships. He then reached his best world ranking ever, being ranked 11th as of August 2011. He has competed at two junior world championships—with a third one coming up in Poland this week—and has now plenty of high level experience.   The young Canadian started shooting a bow as young as 3. He received his first competition bow for his 11th birthday. He has been shooting competitively for eight years and has already beaten more than 50 national and Canadian championship records so far. In March 2011, PERKINS set an indoor world record in a senior age event with 599 points at 18 metres, beating the previous record of 598 held by Dave COUSINS (USA) since 1999.   Biography Extract:  Christopher PERKINS (CAN) – Born 1 May 1992  7th Individual Archery World Cup Stage 3 Ogden 2011 2nd Team Archery World Cup Stage 3 Ogden 2011 1st Individual World Archery Championships Turin 2011 3rd Team World Archery Championships Turin 2011 5th Mixed Team World Archery Championships Turin 2011 4th Team Cadet Youth World Championships Kundu-Antalya 2008 11th Ind. Cadet Youth World Championships Kundu-Antalya 2008 6th Individual Pan American Championships Valencia (VEN) 2008   Find more information on Christopher PERKINS (and all other archers) at the World Archery website as well as on his Facebook page.   World Archery Communication