Ellison produces shock victory to make recurve final fours as teenager Ruiz marches on

An exhausted Brady Ellison admitted he ‘prayed a lot’ after he knocked out top seed Kim Woojin to advance to the recurve final fours at the third stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Colombia.

The US archer will play European Games champion Mauro Nespoli in Sunday’s first semifinal, while Korean pair Kim Je Deok and Lee Woo Seok will compete for the other gold final place.

“I was shaky, I feel super weak,” said five-time Hyundai Archery World Cup champion, who also got past second stage winner in Shanghai, world number one Marcus D’Almeida. “I was too tired to feel nervous and I was just trying to stay as strong as I could on shots, and a lot of them hit and a lot of my mistakes still shot nines.”

Ellison was sick at the start of the competition, unable to eat for several days.

“I’m just too tired to really have any emotion, but I’m super grateful and super thankful to be in the finals,” he added.

His next opponent Nespoli also produced an upset to progress, beating Olympic Champion Mete Gazoz of Türkiye in the quarterfinals, but insisted he can still improve, after finding it difficult to keep the mind in the process today.

“I need to be stronger,” the Italian archer said. “I’m not completely satisfied yet about my shooting, but I can increase it in a couple of days and be stronger on Sunday.”

Medellin serves as a test for him before he goes on to defend his European Games title next week in Poland.

Two unexpected names progressed to the final four on the women’s side, with Michelle Kroppen and Angela Ruiz – seeded 26th and 27th respectively – shooting their way to the semifinals.

Ruiz, in particular, shone on the hottest day of the week so far, reaching the individual final fours for the first time.

“It feels very nice to be in the semifinals because in the last competition I didn’t feel good at all and in this competition I hadn’t been feeling good either,” said the Mexican teenager. “But today was the day to be sure of myself again and sure of what I’m doing, so I’m very happy,”

The 16-year-old beat compatriot Alejandra Valencia, who after defeat declared her victor must win the overall event, before sneaking past Ezgi Basaran in a shoot-off.

The other semifinal sees two more familiar names go head-to-head as top seed Lim Sihyeon takes on Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez.  

Mucino-Fernandez has enjoyed great success in team events this week, reaching the bronze match of the recurve women’s team event and gold match of the mixed team, so was delighted to excel in the individual competition.

“It’s amazing to be in the top four,” she said. “I have been working for this for a very long time and it’s finally paying off.”

“We shot really good in the team rounds and now I shot amazing on my own.”

Action in Medellin continues on Saturday with the individual and team compound finals.

Final fours: Medellin 2023

The recurve medal matches are scheduled for Sunday 18 June. The archers are listed in semifinal pairs and their seed is given in brackets.

Recurve men

• Brady Ellison, USA (9)
• Mauro Nespoli, Italy (12)
• Kim Je Deok, Korea (3)
• Lee Woo Seok, Korea (2)

Recurve women

• Lim Sihyeon, Korea (1)
• Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez, USA (5)
• Angela Ruiz, Mexico (27)
• Michelle Kroppen, Germany (26)