Who’s in, who’s out? Qualification dust settles as competitions cut to top 32

Only the top 32 archers in each competition category advance to the elimination knockout rounds in indoor archery competition. In Nimes, the score required to make the cut has historically been high.

In 2015, it was even higher.

In the recurve men’s division, a strong 577 was needed to advance – thanks in large to the big Korean contingent – while the women had to post at least 566 to keep shooting. (Both competitions needed a shoot-off as multiple archers were tied on those scored and vied for the 32nd spot.)

Compound women at Nimes 2015 needed a nice, round 570, but in 300-plus strong compound men’s division it was an astronomical 589 points required to punch a ticket into the head-to-heads.

That makes for a 575.5 average cut: the highest ever in Nimes. (And one of our pre-event predictions come true.)

Here is a snapshot of who’s in, who’s out of this afternoon’s eliminations…

Recurve women

IN: Aida ROMAN (MEX) and seven Koreans in the top eight seeds, top qualifying French athlete and Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic medallist Melanie GAUBIL – and Brit Naomi FOLKARD.

OUT: European Champion (outdoors) Tatiana SEGINA – from Russia – and five-time Olympian Khatuna LORIG.

Prediction: Aida has a mountain of a task ahead of her. She’ll probably need to beat at least three Korean archers to take home gold. We back her to medal, though!

Recurve men

IN: Olympic Champion and Nimes top qualifier from Korea, OH Jin Hyek, multiple outdoor and Indoor World Cup winner Brady ELLISON (USA) and Nimes’ Jean-Charles VALLADONT (in fifth).

OUT: Frenchman Romain GIROUILLE and Athens 2004 Olympic Champion Marco GALLIAZO.

Prediction: Korean archers took all three top seeds – but the points difference over 60 arrow qualification conveys little advantage in set system head-to-head matches. The Nimes 2015 is still odds on to stay in Europe – or go back to the States with Brady.

Compound women

IN: 2015 stage winners Erika JONES (USA) and Naomi JONES (USA), top-qualifier SONG Yun Soo (KOR) and top USA qualifier – in the second seed – Crystal GAUVIN.

OUT: Former Indoor World Cup champion Andrea GALES (GBR) and Croatia’s Ivana BUDEN.

Prediction: JONES. One of the two.

Compound men

IN: Perfect-600 shooter Mike SCHLOESSER (NED), world number one PJ DELOCHE (FRA), long-time top pros and previous Nimes medallists Reo WILDE (USA) and Martin DAMSBO (DEN) – and KIM Taeyoon, the lone Korean left in this competition.

OUT: Braden GELLENTHIEN (USA) – who was unbeaten until Nimes on this year’s Indoor World Cup circuit – and reigning indoor World Champion Sergio PAGNI (ITA).

Prediction: Mike made history during qualification. Either the pressure is off and he keeps shooting perfect, or the pressure is too far off and he does not shoot perfect at all! The former is more likely.

See results from Nimes 2015.