Antalya compound men’s finals run against the grain

On paper, Mister Perfect Mike Schloesser looked like a solid favourite in the Antalya compound men’s gold final. He was shooting in a second World Cup stage final in a row: He took silver in Shanghai after losing a shoot-off. 

Last year in Antalya, Choi Yong Hee became Korea’s first compound man to win a stage of the Archery World Cup. 

Mister Perfect’s opponent would be another Korean, Choi’s teammate at Antalya 2015, Kim Yongho. 

“At the start I thought I might learn something from Mike,” admitted Yongho. “But the results came in my favour.” 

It was all-Korean for the first two ends as Mike dropped five of his six arrows into the nine. 

Kim was three points up after six arrows and had a four-point lead after nine. 

Dutchman Schloesser did everything he could to save the match, putting his last six arrows into the nine – but it wasn’t enough. Kim dropped three points and still took the win by a point. 

A second silver in a row for famous Mister Perfect – a result he has to be happy with since it puts him in the driving seat in the Archery World Cup rankings. 

Reo Wilde and Bridger Deaton were nothing short of awesome in the all-USA final. Reo, Archery World Cup Champion of the first tour one decade ago, last shot against Deaton at the 2014 Archery World Cup Final in Lausanne. 

Bridger won that match and the tournament. 

All around the beach in Antalya, the sound of arrow crashing into arrow in the middle of the target was heard time and time again. 

Neither dropped a point until the ninth arrow – and it was Wilde that blinked first. 

Everything was going Bridger’s way. He shot another 30 in the fourth end and carried a two-point advantage into the closing three arrows. Reo, back putting his arrows into the middle, quickly drilled a perfect score to finish up. 

It was on Bridger: 29 or 30 and the match was his – and he hadn’t dropped a point yet. 

Deaton’s first arrow went in the nine and the crowd let out a sigh – the audience had come to expect perfection. Two 10s required. 

Second arrow: 10. Still on track. 

Third arrow: Nine again! From almost-sure victory to a one-arrow tiebreaker in a matter of seconds. 

Up first, reigning 15-arrow match world record holder Wilde shot a disappointing nine. Wide, bleeding into the eight-ring but definitely straddling the line into the gold.

The door was open. Bridger had let Reo back into the match – but he had a chance to seal it once again.

Eight. 

What? The look on Bridger’s face said it all. He sagged his knees, looked to the sky and grimaced. 

“Of all the arrows I shot in the match that was the worst one,” said Deaton about his shoot-off shot after walking off the field. “We both shot great throughout the whole match and it came down to who would break first and break most.” 

“I’m glad we put on a show, even if the ending didn’t quite go so well.” 

Reo admitted he thought he’d handed him the match when his tiebreak shot went so far wide. 

“Even though I shot a 148, I knew he had all the tools to beat me,” said Wilde. 

The pair shoot against each other often in the USA and have met twice in the last three outdoor internationals; Reo said that was good to drive the level of competition higher and higher.

After telling reporters in Shanghai and Antalya that his luck was down, Reo Wilde seems to have found it again.