COUSINS adds one title to his collection

 The individual finals took place in the Visegrad Castle on the same four targets as for the team events the day before. World Archery commentator George TEKMITCHOV gave some technical insights on the targets (see below summary of the course). For the first time in field history, the matches were not played simultaneously. Each match began after the previous one was completed. The athletes shot simultaneously during individual finals. They shot three arrows per target to earn a maximum of six points per arrow. The maximum total for a match was therefore 72 points.   As it rained during the night in Visegrad and the sky was really clouded on Saturday, the temperature fell from above 30 degrees Celsius to a comfortable 17 degrees.  Here a summary of the course:   Target 1 The first target was very challenging. It was set up at 40 metres for barebow and 45 metres for recurve and compound with a 60cm target face. All distances were known to the archers. However, the target was set up at a high (shooting high) angle of about 35 degrees.   This required the archers to calculate a cut from the distances (using trigonometry principles—it would be the same process if the archers would have to shoot low). On this first target the cut was 10% - 15%, meaning 5-7 metres depending if the archer was shooting barebow, recurve or compound.   Target 2 The second target was at 10m or 15m (again depending if barebow or recurve/compound). The face was 20cm and called a birdy or bunny. It also had a high angle, but was a pretty usual one. This target was no too challenging, but required precise shooting and tuning.   Target 3 The third target was at 20m and 25m with a 40cm face. This was the maximum distance for a 40cm face. Again shooting high and a precision shot were required.   Target 4 The last target was a difficult one. It was at 50m and 60m with an 80cm face. The high angle was about 25 degrees. The main challenge was a side hill effect that was more difficult to pick-up visually to calculate the cut in metres. At this distance the wind was more of an issue as the weather changed from the rest of the week. It was from time to time a swirling wind in the venue (a bit more wind up at the targets than in the ground). On this target, the top archers would calculate about a 5% cut, which is about 3-4 metres.   Here is a recap of all the matches:   Recurve Men   Bronze Medal – Michele FRANGILLI (ITA) v Sebastian ROHRBERG (GER) These two athletes certainly wanted to play in the gold final, where they have met many times before. But they had to settle for bronze this time.   FRANGILLI was very consistent with his first six arrows shooting 4-4-4 and 4-4-4, although he probably wanted to do better. ROHRBERG had 5-4-4 and 6-5-4 to earn a 4-point lead 28-24 at the half. FRANGILLI shot a 5-5-6 in the third target, but ROHRBERG had 6-6-4 to keep his lead, 44-40.   The Italian shot a 5 on the last target and the German a 4. The Italian shot another 5, while the German continued with a 3. The gap was down to one point only! ROHRBERG shot his last arrow first and put pressure with a 5. FRANGILLI had seen this before but could not respond this time. He shot a 4. His international senior medal tally stayed at 29, making him the most decorated archer at this level. ROHRBERG added one bronze to his collection. Final score: 56-54.  Gold Medal – Jon SHALES (GBR) v Al WILLS (GBR) This all British final was played between Jon “Iceman” SHALES and Al “the most dangerous archer on earth” WILLS.   WILLS started well with 4-5-6, while SHALES was a notch under with 4-4-4 to concede a 3-point deficit, 12-15. WILLS continued boldly with 4-4-4, while SHALES took a long time on the 15m target to shoot 3-4-4. The gap increased to 27-23.   Iceman turned on the heat a little bit with 6-5-4, while WILLS was the one taking his time on the target. He scored 4-6 and a 5 with less than 20 seconds remaining on the clock. He kept his 4-point advantage, 42-38.   Both archers shot a 3 simultaneously on the last target. Then WILLS got another 3 and SHALES a 4. However, the most dangerous archer on earth lived to his reputation with a last 6 to clinch the gold. SHALES also shot 6 to finish the match. Al WILLS became the new recurve field world champion, 54-51!   Recurve Women   Bronze Medal – Jessica TOMASI (ITA) v Elena RICHTER (GER) The double world champion (2004 and 2008) TOMASI played for bronze this time against RICHTER who is always capable of a strong performance.   The Italian got an early lead after the first end, 10-8, but the German tied it after the second target, 23-23. TOMASI regained a two-point advantage on the third target, 38-36 that she managed to keep on the last target. TOMASI won the bronze 51-49.  Gold Medal – Naomi FOLKARD (GBR) v Christine BJERENDAL (SWE) FOLKARD won the bronze medal at the World Games in 2009, while BJERENDAL is the daughter of the legendary Swedish archer Goran (multiple time field world champion).   BJERENDAL took an early lead 11-10, after the first end. Then FOLKARD shot 3-5-5, while the Swedish archer had 4-4-4. Score was tied 23-23. The Swedish lady turned on the heat with a perfect 6-6-6 on the third target! She took a 4-point lead over the British Olympian, 41-37.   Both archers shot a 4 at the same time to start the last target. Then BJERENDAL shot another 4 and FOLKARD as well. BJERENDAL clinched the gold medal with a last 4. FOLKARD finished with a miss, but that did not matter. The family tradition continued for the BJERENDAL!   Recurve Junior Men   Bronze Medal – Fabien COCHIN (FRA) v Florian DORER (GER) DORER started the match well with 5-3-4 to take a 2-point lead over COCHIN, 12-10. The German increased its lead after the second end, 26-23.   COCHIN tried to come back with a good 6-4-4 on the third target, but the German took all his time with 5-5-5 and increased his lead, 41-37.   DORER shot first on the last target with a 4 and a 3. COCHIN took his time on this target to shoot a 4 and another 4. The French did a 3 with his last arrow, and so did the German. Bronze medal for DORER, 51-48!  Gold Medal – Marco MORELLO (ITA) v Jarrod NICHOLSON (AUS) MORELLO, who also played in the team finals the day before, started the match very well with 6-4-4. NICHOLSON had to settle down a bit after his first arrow, which was a poor 1. He continued well with 4-5, but trailed 10-14.   NICHOLSON had a good 4-4-5 on the second target, while MORELLO took a lot of time on his last arrow to shoot 4-4-4. He still led 26-23. The wind was still swirling into the venue when the archers shot on the third target. The Australian did 4-4-5, while the Italian increased its lead with 4-6-5, 41-36.   NICHOLSON continued with 4-3, while MORELLO seemed to cruise to victory with 3-4 (just outside the 5!) The Australian put some pressure anyhow with a 6 on this last arrow. MORELLO needed a 2 to win. He shot a miss—what a drama! NICHOLSON became world champion with the score of 49-48!   Recurve Junior Women   Bronze Medal – Heather TRAFFORD (USA) v Ana UMER (SLO) The 2008 junior world champion UMER was playing for bronze this time against the young American TRAFFORD. The latter was not impressed, however, and started the match well with 4-3-3 and 3-4-4. UMER had a 2-3-4 and 4-3-4 to concede a one point deficit, 20-21.   Things got even more complicated for UMER when she shot a 1 with her first arrow on the third target. Fortunately for her, she continued with 5-5. TRAFFORD was consistent with 4-3-4 and kept a 1-point lead, 32-31.   The last target was going to make the difference between these two young, talented archers. The American started with a 2, while the Slovenian had a 4 to reverse the lead. TRAFFORD continued with 3 and 1, while UMER managed another 4 to clinch the bronze medal. The last 4 was for good and the final score 43-38.   Gold Medal – Elena MORABITO (ITA) v Zoe GOBBELS (BEL) MORABITO opened with a very nice 6 but that did not seem to make her less nervous. She continued with a miss and a 3. GOBBELS had 1-4-4. The wind picked up a bit and seemed to push the arrow to the left of the target at 45 metres. The score was tied at 9-9.   Both archers were equalled on the second target with 11 points each (20-20). Then MORABITO had 4-4-3, while GOBBELS shot 4-4-4 to take the lead 32-31.   All was going to be decided on the last target again. MORABITO did 3-5-5. GOBBELS seemed to be in trouble when she shot a miss with her first arrow, but she responded very well with two perfect 6s! Gold medal for Belgium, 44-42!   Compound Men   Bronze Medal – Rod MENZER (USA) v Jeremy THIERRY (FRA) The 2008 world champion MENZER was battling for bronze this time. He started with 4-5-6, while THIERRY shot 5-3-6 to concede a 1-point lead 15-14.   THIERRY continued really well with 6-5-6, while MENZER had 5-5-6. Hence the French athlete tied the match at 31-31.   The level continued to be high in the third end. The American shot 5-6-5, while the Frenchman managed a 6-5 and a liner 6 to take the lead 48-47.   THIERRY shot first in the last target and scored a 4. Then MENZER shot a 5. Then the Frenchman released his last two arrows, a 6 and 5. The American had only one minute left to shoot his two last arrows and he needed 11 points to tie the match. MENZER shot a 5 and then a 4 and left the bronze medal to THIERRY, 63-61!  Gold Medal – Dave COUSINS (USA) v Kevin WILKEY (USA) COUSINS was the 2002 individual field world champion and 2001 World Games winner on top of numerous titles in indoor and outdoor target archery. Kevin WILKEY was the 2009 World Games winner.   COUSINS shot only his second 4 of the week at a bad time: during the first end of the final (5-6-4). WILKEY had a very good start with 6-6-5 and led 17-15. COUSINS came back strongly on the second target with 5-5-6, while WILKEY had a disappointing 4-5-4. COUSINS took the lead 31-30. He continued with 5-6-6, while his opponent had 5-5-5. The gap increased to 48-45.   WILKEY finished with 5-5-6 for a total of 61 points. COUSINS shot 6-6-5 to grab the highest score of the day, 65, and another world title!   Compound Women   Bronze Medal – Gladys WILLEMS (BEL) v Francoise VOLLE (FRA) VOLLE was world champion in 2004 and WILLEMS was silver medallist in 2006.   These athletes played a tight match in Visegrad! WILLEMS took the lead 14-12, and then VOLLE got it back, 29-28. After the third end, WILLEMS was again in front 44-43!   On the last target, VOLLE shot a 4 and WILLEMS had a 4. Then WILLEMS earned a 6 just before VOLLE had 4. Finally, WILLEMS shot a 4 to clinch the bronze. VOLLE finished with a 5. Final score: 58-56.  Gold Medal – Isabell DANIELSSON (SWE) v Anne LANTEE (FIN) Same kind of rollercoaster for the gold medal as it was for the bronze...   LANTEE first shot 6-5-4 to take the lead, 15-13. Then DANIELSSON shot 6-5-6 in the second end and reverse the scoring 30-29. LANTEE continued with 6-5-5, but DANIELSSON had 6-5-6 to earn a 2-point lead, 47-45.   On the fourth target, the Finn started with two 5s, while the Swede had two 4s. The score was tied! It came down to the last arrow and there was not much time remaining on the clock. With 12 seconds left, DANIELLSON shot a 3. With 8 seconds left, LANTEE shot a 5 and became the new world champion! Final score: 60-58.   Compound Junior Men   Bronze Medal – Adam GALLANT v Alex BRIDGMAN (GBR) Alex BRIDGMAN won the junior world title two years ago in Llwynypia (GBR) after a very nice final match. This time he had to play for bronze. He played well again with 5-4-6, 6-5-6, 5-5-6 and 6-5-5.   GALLANT was not far off with 4-6-5, 4-6-4, 4-5-6, 6-5 and a 5 just outside the 6 ring. Unfortunately, he had been trailing the score as of the second end and could not catch up. Victory for BRIDGMAN, 62-60!  Gold Medal – Sean ELZA (USA) v Florian OSWALD (GER) ELZA started really well with 5-6-5 to build a 4-point lead 16-12. However OSWALD, who earned the bronze medal in 2008, came back strong in the second and third targets with 6-6-5 and 6-5-6 to tie the score at 46-46.   In the final end, ELZA shot a 4, while OSWALD also had a 4. Then both archers took a long time to shoot as the wind picked up. OSWALD had a 5. ELZA shot a 4. Tied score! OSWALD shot a 5 or 6 in the line. ELZA shot a 6. The second arrow of OSWALD was confirmed by the target judge as 5, and ELZA became world champion, 61-60!   Compound Junior Women   Bronze Medal – Fanni BOGNAR (HUN) v Anastasia ANASTASIO (ITA) It was the chance for Hungary to win a medal at their field world championships! BOGNAR was a little nervous on the difficult first target, starting with a 1 but she continued with 5-5. ANASTASIO had 4-4-5.   The Italian continued in a good way with 5-4-4, while the Hungarian was again shaky on her first arrow: 0-5-4. ANASTASIO led 26-20.   BOGNAR put some pressure on her opponent on the third target with 6-6-3, but ANASTASIO was solid was 5-5-6.   BOGNAR concluded with 5-4-3, but the 70m specialist and former youth world champion ANASTASIO concluded with 6-4-4 to win the bronze 56-47.  Gold Medal – Emeline SALMON (FRA) v Hunter JACKSON (USA) SALMON took the lead on the first half with 4-5-4 and 5-4-5, while JACKSON shot 3-4-3 and 3-4-5. The French athlete led 27-22.   JACKSON grabbed one point back with 5-5-6 versus 5-5-5 for SALMON. JACKSON finished with 6-3-4. SALMON had 5, a 5 that gave her the title and a 4. SALMON became "championne du monde", 56-51.   Barebow Men   Bronze Medal – Bobby LARSSON (SWE) v Sergio Massimo CASSIANI (ITA) LARSSON built up a lead over the first two targets with 3-4-6 and 4-6-5, while the 2008 world champion CASSIANI had 3-3-4 and 4-4-6. The Swedish archer led 28-24.   However, the Italian started a come-back in the third target with 5-5-4, while LARSSON had 3-4-4. He only led by one at that time, 39-38. CASSIANI kept pushing with 4-3-5 on the last target. LARSSON had a 2 and a 4. He trailed by five points before his last arrow. He was alone on the shooting line, as the Italian had finished shooting. LARSSON had more than one minute to play with and he took is time. A 6 would have given him victory, a five the right to a shoot-off. Unfortunately LARSSON did not come through under pressure and shot a 3. Bronze medal for CASSIANI, 50-48!  Gold Medal – Pasi AHJOKIVI (FIN) v Giuseppe SEIMANDI (ITA) AHJOKIVI won the gold in the team event, while SEIMANDI earned the bronze, Finland beating Italy in the semifinal the day before.   AHJOKIVI continued on a great fashion and opened the match with 6-6-4, while SEIMANDI was caught cold, 3-3-4. That was a 6-point lead for the Finnish athlete, 16-10. SEIMANDI turned it up a notch in the second target with a perfect 6-6-6, while AHJOKIVI had 5-6-5. He still kept a 4-point lead, 32-28.   The archers were tied on the third target with 6-4-5 for the Italian, and 5-5-5 for the Finnish athlete who really made the most of his time on the clock. He kept leading 47-43.   SEIMANDI was field world champion in 2006, but he could not repeat in 2010. He concluded with 4-4-4 for 55 points. The flying Finn AHJOKIVI became team and individual 2010 world champion with 4-3-3 on the last target. He won 57-55!   Barebow Women   Bronze Medal – Andrea RAIGEL (GER) v Monica JENTGES (GER) RAIGEL did not start well on the challenging first target with 1-1-2. JENTGES shot 3-6-2. RAIGEL did a bit better on the second target with 4-3-4, but JENTGES had 4-4-6. That was already a 10-point lead for the 2005 World Games winner JENGTES, 25-15. At the end the German won the bronze 54-36.  Gold Medal – Christine GAUTHE (FRA) v Eleonora STROBBE (ITA) These two athletes met at the World Games final last year in Kaohsiung (TPE) and STROBBE won. On the first, high target at 40m, both archers were equalled, earning 12 points each. On the second target—the precision one—STROBBE took a good advantage with 4-4-6, while GAUTHE had 2-3-5. The Italian led 26-22.   At the third target—the mid-distance one at 20m—both archers were again equal and STROBBE led 40-36. On the last target—high at 50m—GAUTHE had 2-1-4. Not enough to put pressure on the World Games winner and now world champion STROBBE! Victory for the Italian 50-43!   Barebow Junior Men   Bronze Medal – Marco SPANO (ITA) v Robert MALLON (GBR) The match opened a long day of finals at the Visegrad Castle. Both these young archers had the whole venue for themselves, with fans, TV and medal pressure. They must have been nervous on the first target as MALLON started with 0-0-1 and SPANO with 1-2-1. The Italian had a 4-1 lead, but the British archer cut it down at 14-15 in the second target and tied it at 27-27 on the third end. In the last, difficult target, MALLON had 4-3-3. SPANO played in the team final the day before and unfortunately shot a miss for his lone arrow on this target. This time he did not let go his chance and shot 4-4-3 to clinch a well deserved bronze medal.   Gold Medal – Kalle PUMAN (SWE) v Raphael PETIT MINUESA (FRA) PUMAN had the better start with 2-4-3, while PETIT MINUESA suffered a miss (like MALLON in the bronze final), 0-3-3. The Swedish archer led 9-6, but the French young athlete came back, 21-23 and then 35-35. It was all going to be played again on the last target! PUMAN had 3-4, while PETIT MINUESA had 4-2. That was a 1-point lead for PUMAN who finished with a 4. PETIT MINUESA, however, found a perfect 6 with his last arrow to come back and clinch the gold medal! What a victory at 47-46!

Didier MIEVILLE World Archery Communication