Just 10 points separate Wroclaw 2014 top 20 compound men seeds

“The 50-metre qualification round we shoot now is similar to indoors, at 18 metres,” said Wroclaw 2014 top seed Martin DAMSBO. “If you shoot a nine you’re way behind. You have to shoot 10s to keep up.”

“It’s a mind game,” said DAMSBO’s Danish teammate Stephan HANSEN, who was leading the compound men’s field for most of the afternoon before getting caught by the wind and finishing up in third. He pointed out that 28 people shot more than 700 at this year’s first World Cup stage in Shanghai.

In Wroclaw, it was only six athletes, but the scores were just as tight.

DAMSBO ranked first with 707, the USA’s Braden GELLENTHIEN had 706, HANSEN 705 and Pierre-Julien DELOCHE from France was fourth with 704.

DELOCHE was relieved with his score. He’s having a particularly difficult time at the moment, not completely confident in his shooting and coping with the retirement of the mixed team partner he’s had success with recently.

“Poland’s one of those places – like Corsica, for me – when you arrive and feel naturally relaxed,” said PJ – who added he’s enjoying the smooth organisation of this tournament after a tough week in Armenia.

“I like both qualification and matches,” the world number one Frenchman added. “But it’s really two completely different approaches. I would like to see the qualification given more value, since the top 20 or so archers are so close – and I don’t think hitting the X10 is given enough importance.”

DELOCHE shot the second most X10s – the very centre ring on the target, inside the 10, which scores no more points – after third-ranked Stephan.

Braden GELLENTHIEN summed up his approach to the 72-arrow 50-metre ranking round succinctly: “it’s all about concentration”.

“You need to be perfect or near perfect to qualify well. It’s tricky, it’s tough; you’ve got to stay focused and do your best.”

In a stacked USA compound men’s squad, it’s practically impossible for Braden to qualify for the Lausanne finals, since Reo WILDE and Bridger DEATON – who ranked sixth in Wroclaw – are ahead of him in the World Cup standings. (A maximum of two athletes can qualify from any one nation.)

GELLENTHIEN’s content to have settled into some good results to close out the season, though: “I’ve been playing with the stabilisation on my bow a bit; the V-bars, specifically. I’ve tried a typical recurve set-up and the bow seems to be holding really well, the pin’s not bouncing and I’m able to execute well.”

With his second, Bridger’s sixth and Reo WILDE’S seventh, the USA men took the second team seed as well – behind a strong Denmark.

WILDE, States’s number four Steve ANDERSON and Italy’s Sergio PAGNI had a three-way shoot off for the last two top-eight bye spots. ANDERSON was left in the dry, and will have to shoot tomorrow morning. India’s Abhishek VERMA was fifth.

Follow results from the last stage of the 2014 Archery World Cup in Wroclaw.