GELLENTHIEN finally World Cup Final winner!

  The Tokyo World Cup Final crowned their first two winners this afternoon during the compound finals! The individual compound matches are played with 15 arrows (five ends of three arrows) at 50 metres with cumulative scores. The quarterfinals were shot in the morning.   Compound Men – Semifinals   Reo WILDE (USA/1) v Peter ELZINGA (NED/5) ELZINGA has the only thing WILDE would like to have; the world record in the FITA Round with 1419 out of 1440 points. However, today, a victory is more important and the competition is high with the two times European champion and the man from the USA who has almost won every title he has competed for in his career!   WILDE stayed true to his reputation starting with two perfect 30s. ELZINGA had two 29s. Score: 60-58. Another 10-10-10 by the American and another 29 by the Dutch brought the score at 90-87.   ELZINGA did score a 30 in the fourth end and cut one point out of his deficit, 117-119. However, WILDE was able to stay strong and finish with a last 30 to win the match 149-145!   Julio Ricardo FIERRO (MEX/6) v Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA/2) GELLENTHIEN, ranked number 2 in the world and on the world cup circuit, who is also a three times runner up at a World Cup Final, went up against the upcoming archer FIERRO. As the No. 7 seed in the world he is slowly climbing the ranks.   GELLENTHIEN could not find his rhythm in the first end for 9-10-9 and FIERRO took advantage of it with 10-10-9. Both athletes brought up the heat in the second end with 10-10-10 each!   GELLENTHIEN shot a perfect end (X10-X10-X10) in the third, while FIERRO did 10-10-9. Score tied at 88-88.   The American continued strong with a 10-10-9, while the Mexican shot 9-9-9. GELLENTHIEN took the lead 117-115.   In the fifth FIERRO shot a 10. GELLENTHIEN shot a 10. Julio Ricardo pretty much lost his chance with a 9. Braden got another 10. FIERRO finished with a 10. GELLENTHIEN booked his place in a dual with WILDE scoring a last 10 (10-10-10 one more time)! 147-144!   Compound Men – 3rd place match     Bronze - Peter ELZINGA (NED/5) v Julio Ricardo FIERRO (MEX/6) The No. 5 in the World Cup ranking this season met the No. 6 for the third place at the World Cup Final in Tokyo.   Both archers started perfectly: 30-30! 60-60! They even reached 70-70. Then ELZINGA shot another 10, FIERRO scored a 9 and both archers finished the third end with a 9. The Dutchman led 89-88.   FIERRO was back on track in the fourth end shooting another 10-10-10! ELZINGA had one bad arrow making the end 10-8-10! The Mexican archer fell out of the lead with the score at 117-118.   ELZINGA started the fifth end with a 9. FIERRO scored a 10. Peter scored a 10. Julio Riccardo scored another 10. ELZINGA scored a last 10. FIERRO finished with a 10! Another 10-10-10 for the Mexican and 3rd place at the Tokyo World Cup Final! 148-147!   Compound Men – title match   Gold - Reo WILDE (USA/1) v Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA/2) Friends as much as they are rivals on the field, these great athletes have won a lot of team titles together. Ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world, the USA teammates battled it out for the trophy in the compound men category at the World Cup Final in Tokyo!   Both archers started strong with 10-10-10. And they followed up with 10-10-10. Then WILDE scored 10-10-10! GELLENTHIEN 10-10-…9! WILDE led 90-89.   GELLENTHIEN scored 10-10-10 in the fourth and managed to tie the match as WILDE dropped a point (10-9-10)! Score was tied at 119-119 with three arrows to go!   WILDE opened the fifth end with a 9. GELLENTHIEN could not take advantage of if with a 9, very close to the 10-ring. Reo scored another 9. Braden scored a 10 this time! WILDE finished with a 10. GELLENTHIEN shot his last arrow—which looked exactly like the his shot from the team perfect score in the 2009 Indoor World Championships gold medal match—a superb, smooth 10! After three, Silver medals at a World Cup Final, GELLENTHIEN finally won! And deservedly so! 148-147!   Compound Women– Semifinals   Yumiko HONDA (JPN/8) v Jamie VAN NATTA (USA/5) It was a great performance against world No. 1 Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) that got Yumiko HONDA (JPN) into this round. She met Jamie VAN NATTA from the USA.   The start was slow for the Japanese crowd favourite, as HONDA shot a pair of 8’s to drop 3 points behind after the first end. She fought back with a dead centre 10 but VAN NATTA shot a 29 in the second end to take another point from the Japanese archer. Jamie was able to shot a perfect 30 to pull ahead by 5 points, 87-82.   HONDA needed to fight back. She did it with a great 29 but VAN NATTA tied, maintaining a 5 point lead with three arrows to go. Although VAN NATTA had a low 25 end to finish, but it was enough to take the win for a place in the gold medal match.   Christie COLIN (USA/3) v Danielle BROWN (GBR/7) Danielle BROWN had luck on her side when Marcella TONIOLI (ITA) failed to shoot an arrow on the last end and handed her the win in the quarterfinals. COLIN had a close match, winning by just one point to another Italian Laura LONGO.   Both archers shot an 8 in the first end but COLIN led by one point. BROWN tied the match with a 29 to level the score at 55 each. Then COLIN shot a 9-9-7 to fall behind by 4 points as BROWN shot a near perfect 29. The British led 84-80 and the American never came back.   BROWN kept up the great shooting and showed why she is Paralympic champion. She won the match by 4 points and entered her second major final of the season.   Compound Women – 3rd place match   Bronze - Christie COLIN (USA/3) v Yumiko HONDA (JPN/8) HONDA faced COLIN who has much more experience at this level of competition. For instance, she was 2ndat the World Cup Final in Istanbul last year.   The Japanese archer had a great start leading, 28-27, but shot a 7 in the second end. COLIN took advantage and reversed the situation, 55-54.   HONDA scored 10-10-9, while COLIN had 9-10-9. The match was tied at 83-83!   HONDA lost a bit of her drive in the fourth end with 9-9-8 and COLIN took advantage of it to score 10-10-9. She had commanding lead 112-109.   The Japanese archer had given it all before this last end, including a superb upset of the world No. 1 LOGINOVA in quarterfinal. She finished the match with 9-8-9. COLIN did not let go her chance of a second World Cup Final podium in two years. She scored 10-10-8 to win 140-135!   Compound Women – title match   Jamie VAN NATTA (USA/5) v Danielle BROWN (GBR/7) She was not supposed to be here. Not because she just won a second Paralympic title in London just a couple of weeks ago. But because she was “only” 10th in the World Cup ranking with the able body archer this year, therefore named as the alternate athlete for the Final. Olga BOSCH (VEN) could not come to Tokyo and here was BROWN taking a last minute flight. She won the quarterfinal, with a bit of luck, then stormed through the semifinal! BROWN played somebody who is very much used to be here. VAN NATTA competed in her 5th World Cup Final (!) and already had won it in Lausanne 2008!   Van NATTA had a slightly better start with gaining, 29-28, 57-56 over her opponent. Then BROWN shot an 8 to start the third end. She followed up with two 9s. This opened the door for VAN NATTA who took a 3-point lead with 9-10-9, 85-82.   The American kept the gap in the fourth end, as the archers shot 9-10-10 and 10-10-9.   BROWN picked-up a point at the opening of the fifth end (9-8). Then both archers shot a 9. BROWN finished with a 10! VAN NATTA needed a 9 to win her second World Cup Final which she did. Victory for VAN NATTA, 140-139!   The recurve matches take place tomorrow!   Michael PEART / Didier MIEVILLE World Archery Communication