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Schloesser, Lutz hunt second win as recurve seeds make Nimes final

20 January 2024

Nimes, France

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Mike Schloesser and Jimmy Lutz - Nimes 2024

Mike Schloesser and James Lutz will contest the compound men’s gold medal match in the Nimes arena on Sunday, each looking for a second event win on this Indoor Archery World Series season.

Mikey was back to his imperious best in matchplay after an indifferent qualification (597), shooting four back-to-back 150s to cruise to the gold medal match. His only scare came against top seed Mathias Fullerton in the quarterfinals, where a better (near-perfect) tiebreak 10 saw him survive.

Hard luck for Fullerton, the top seed, who is eliminated from this event having not dropped a single point.

Lutz’s path has been less smooth – and he recovered from a bad arrow in his semifinal against Tim Jevsnik to book his ticket to the podium.

“Today went great. I shot my bow very well and felt comfortable for pretty much every match,” said Lutz. “I had one hiccup in the semifinals but I recovered well and got the job done.”

Schloesser won the Lausanne Challenge event in October 2023 while Lutz took the GT Open in Luxembourg in November. Both are former outdoor World Archery Champions.

“I’d say I’m hungrier [for another title]. Mike has proven himself for years, and I’d say I’m fairly new at this indoor stuff,” said Lutz. “This is one of the biggest shoots of the year and I’m definitely going to do everything I can to get it done tomorrow.”

Both top recurve seeds Roy Dror and Charline Schwarz made the gold medal match on Sunday, with Dror dropping just two points across four matches on his journey through the bracket.

But he’ll face a stiff test in the final.

Winner of the stages in Lausanne and Strassen this season and the defending series champion, Steve Wijler, has stayed true to form in 2024, banking on his match performances to see him to success – and also only dropping just two points on the line today.

Wijler just edged out world number one Marcus D’Almeida in their semis, when, after four perfect sets apiece, the Brazilian dropped an arrow into the nine ring. D’Almeida will face Patrick Huston for third.

Schwarz will face Elia Canales for the gold, who was runner-up at the series finals in Las Vegas in 2023. The Spaniard survived a shoot-off in her quarterfinal match, but was optimistic about the showdown on Sunday.

“I’m really looking forward to competing at my highest level, even if I don’t get the title,” said Canales.

Michelle Kroppen and Victoria Sebastian, the second seed, will shoot for bronze.

The compound women’s gold medal match will see Mexico’s Andrea Becerra face veteran Colombian Alejandra Usquiano. Neither of the Latin Americans has yet won a major indoor event.

Competition continues on Sunday with the Indoor Archery World Series Youth Finals in the morning, followed by the Nimes medal matches in the afternoon.