Recurve qualifications in Wroclaw: A perfect 10 for Korea

Recurve athletes battled it out in qualifications at four distances today under the rain and clouds of Wroclaw. The men shot 36 arrows per distance at 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres, while the women shot at 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres. To place among the top eight was more important than ever today: the top eight will have byes into the 1/16 finals, which means those athletes will have only one match to win to advance to the 1/8 round, which earns precious points toward the World Cup Finals.

Korea, absent from the last World Cup stage, can be awarded a 10 for today’s performance, showing that their athletes are superbly prepared for the upcoming World Archery Championships. Their four men and women took the top four spots of the individual rankings. On the men’s side, Olympic champion and winner of the first two World Cup stages OH Jin Hyek (KOR) was untouchable. He shot the highest scores at 70 and 50 metres for a total of 1349, almost 20 points higher than his closest competitor. He led teammates IM Dong Hyun (2nd with 1330 points), 18-year-old LEE Seungyun (third with 1327 points), and Shanghai runner-up JIN Jae WANG (4th with 1319 points). 

Behind the Korean powerhouse squad, French archer Thomas AUBERT (photo) was the top performer from the rest of the world. His second highest score at 50 metres contributed to his total of 1318 points, which placed him 5th ahead of surprising 18-year-old Robin RAMAEKERS (BEL), who shot an impressive 1311 in his first World Cup event. Brady ELLISON (USA), returning to shape after suffering a broken hand at the beginning of the season, claimed the 7th spot with 1304 points. For ELLISON, fourth in the World Cup ranking, qualification for the World Cup Final is one step nearer. Bolot TSYBZHITOV (RUS) caught the eighth and final direct qualifying spot to the round of 16 with a shoot-off victory over Juan-Ignacio RODRIGUEZ (ESP).

As a team, the Korean men distinguished themselves with the highest score of all countries (4006). France finished second, 90 points behind, ahead of Olympic silver medallists United States (3882). Mexico was 4th (3877), ahead of Russia (3856).

The Korean domination was equally impressive on the women’s side. The four Koreans were in the top four spots from the first distance to the last. YUN Ok-Hee (main photo), who came back from missing the 2012 Olympic Games to being the most consistent archer of the season so far with a victory in Shanghai and a second place in Antalya, tops the ranking with 1382 points. She was the best on three distances (346 at 60 metres, 340 at 50 metres and 359 at 30 metres). Double Olympic champion KI Bo Bae was second, just 9 points behind (1373) thanks to a steady performance overall. JOO Hyun-Jung, the 2009 world champion, finished 3rd just one point behind KI. CHANG Hye Jin completed the Korean sweep with 1361 points for 4th place. Competition among these women promises to be fierce later this week, to determine which two athletes, among YUN, JOO and KI, will qualify for the World Cup Finals, due to the two-per-country rule. 

Behind the Koreans, Ukraine’s Anastasia PAVLOVA (photo) was the best of the day. Fifth with 1339, the current No 15 of the World Cup ranking can still qualify for the World Cup Final if she performs at that level during elimination matches later this week. The Ukrainian archer finished only one point ahead of Olympic silver medallist Aida ROMAN (MEX), No. 6 in the World Cup ranking, who is one step closer to securing qualification for Paris. Germany’s Lisa UNRUH and Elena RICHTER competed the top 8 with 1328 and 1327 points, respectively.

Korea easily topped the women’s team ranking with 4127 points, just two points off Korea’s own world record. Germany was a distant second, more than 100 points behind Korea (3990) but ahead of Mexico (3962). Russia finished 4th (3939), ahead of India, 5th with 3932 points. The mixed team from Korea, made of OH Jin Hyek and YUN Ok Hee, finished 1st with 2731 points, almost a hundred points ahead of Mexico’s Aida ROMAN and Juan-René SERRANO (2635) and Germany’s Lisa UNRUH and Sebastian ROHRBERG (2632).

World Archery Communication