ELLISON, JEON, GELLENTHIEN and GALES are golden in Vegas

  Recurve Men  Brady ELLISON (USA) silenced the skeptics with a championship-caliber performance tonight, winning three decisive victories against tough opponents to claim his spot in the gold medal final. After a 7-1 semifinals meeting with fellow Olympian Rick VAN DER VEN (NED), ELLISON faced World Field Champion Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA) in the final (photo). Despite three tied sets by silver medalist Valladont, ELLISON still kept scores high enough to pull off a 6-4 win.   “Since the Olympics, I had not touched the bow until January,” said ELLISON in a post-match interview. “It’s the longest break I’ve taken in seven years. I had a lung infection and just wasn't strong before (Nimes) France, but I’ve been shooting really well recently.” When asked about speculation regarding his ability to remain as competitive in the 2013 season, ELLISON commented: “I still have one of the highest arrow averages out there; you’re not going to win them all but you can darn sure try.”   Olympic gold medalist Michele FRANGILLI also advanced to the semifinals after stopping USA’s Jake KAMINSKI in the quarterfinals, who was a high-ranked favorite going into this event. FRANGILLI was unable to hold off VALLADONT, however, and advanced to the bronze medal match with VAN DER VEN, who took a 6-2 win.   Recurve Women  Korean teammates JEON Sung Eun and KIM Min Jong won their quarterfinal matchups versus Louise LAURSEN (DEN) and Pia Carmen LIONETTI (ITA) respectively. In the semifinals, they faced veteran opponents in Naomi FOLKARD (GBR) and Berengere SCHUH (FRA), but came away with wins to face one another in the gold medal match (photo). Shooting for the win, JEON displayed her prowess with a 7-3 score, taking the gold and giving teammate KIM the silver. SCHUH also continued to find the ten ring, shooting a strong enough match against FOLKARD to win the bronze medal.   “I’ve been concentrating more on indoor since the Olympic Games,” explained SCHUH. “I’ve tried to be consistent with my training between outdoor and indoor seasons, and that’s why I’ve been able to hit tens.” When asked what her biggest challenge in tonight’s matches was, SCHUH commented that she worked to remain focused on shooting her best despite the presence of JEON and KIM.   Compound Men  For Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA), the Archery World Cup Final in September was an opportunity for victory against one of his toughest opponents: teammate Reo WILDE. GELLENTHIEN proved tonight that his Tokyo victory was not merely a one-off, shooting his way through tough matches against Pierre-Julien DELOCHE (FRA) and WILDE before meeting Peter ELZINGA (NED) in the gold medal match (photo). Remaining strong despite an outstanding performance from ELZINGA, GELLENTHIEN clinched the gold medal win after a “closer-to-center” ten in a shoot-off.   Reo WILDE, an eight-time world champion, won a hard-fought bronze medal after a strong performance from opponent Martin DAMSBO (DEN). Both archers faced some of the world’s top compound archers on their way to the bronze medal match, including Sergio PAGNI (ITA) and Dave COUSINS (USA), but WILDE kept his edge through the end of his 6-4 bronze medal win versus DAMSBO.   Compound Women  The competition on the women’s compound side of the arena was, in a word, tough. This was a category punctuated by tied matches and shoot-offs, and fans hoping for an exciting spectator event were rewarded by strong performances by the women’s compound archers.   Danelle WENTZEL (RSA), a favorite in this series, remained strong enough to take wins in her 1/8 and quarterfinal matches versus Christine HARRELSON (USA) and Camilla SOEMOD (DEN). In the semifinal, however, she faced a tough opponent in Sandrine VANDIONANT-FRANGILLI (FRA), who edged past WENTZEL into the gold medal final, 6-4.   Andrea GALES (GBR) and Inge VAN CASPEL (NED) also each put up strong performances, shooting their way into a semifinals meeting. With the tiebreaker win going to GALES, VAN CASPEL faced WENTZEL in the bronze medal match, and WENTZEL won the fourth tiebreaker of the night to take the bronze. GALES went head to head with VANDIONANT-FRANGILLI in the gold medal final (photo), and despite strong shooting from VANDIONANT-FRANGILLI, GALES was able to claim the gold medal, 7-3.   For complete results, visit http://ianseo.net/Details.php?toId=308      World Archery Communication