Colombia has compound finalist at Medellin… but not who we expected

“This is such a big surprise for me,” said Daniel. “I have been doing a lot of work recently but honestly, I did not expect to make the finals at all.”

The Colombian archer has shot at two Archery World Cups previously, the first back in 2009 – but was not at the Medellin stage last year: “I think being at home makes everything easier. It’s comforting to have my family cheering in the stands!”

“I felt better after the second match as I lost all my nerves,” 25-year-old MUNOZ said that is as far as he expected to get with the class of competition.

“I had just one word on my mind: winning.”

MUNOZ will face Peter ELZINGA, an experience Dutch compound archer who won the European stage of the Indoor Archery World Cup in Telford. The sixth seeded archer did just enough in every phase – including seeing off States archers Bridger DEATON and Reo WILDE – to make the gold match.

“It’s good to be back on the finals field again,” said ELZINGA. “It’s been a long time – but I had a good indoor season, good preparation and I’m feeling stronger every month. I did struggle a bit in the first few matches, but I finished well!”

The compound women’s final will be contested by the USA’s Erika JONES and Toja CERNE of Slovenia. Medellin 2014 will be Toja’s first ever senior final.

“I don’t know how it happened,” said the excited CERNE. “This is the happiest moment of my life!”

Toja said she had some luck, but shot well. This is the archer who stayed up until 1am on the night she arrived, before official practice, to get her delayed bow from the airline: “Maybe I threw out all my stress after losing my kit.”

While CERNE won her semifinal by a solid margin, JONES needed a shoot-off to beat Albina LOGINOVA: “It went back and forth and I knew it was going to be a tough match – so I’m just glad I came out on top this time.”

The JONES-LOGINOVA match was streamed online using a special ‘show’ target at the edge of the eliminations field. Check back to worldarchery.org to watch team matches tomorrow.

See scores from the second stage of the 2014 Archery World Cup at Medellin 2014.