Sweden and USA in gold!

Photos © Dean Alberga

This afternoon at Gunnebo Castle, spectators attended a very exciting team competition. The teams fought for Field World Championships medals and would not drop any arrow away. Finally the Swedish ladies and the American men put the first gold medals into their quivers.

After defeating France by one point (50-49) in the semi-final, the German ladies fought for gold against the Swedish favorites, who for their part, won over Austria (51-47). In the Final Sweden left no doubt who would win and claimed the title with a 6 point margin. This was great news for the Swedish organizers who were pleased to get their first gold medal. It was also the second title in four years for Petra Ericsson who was shooting in her home town and got strong support from her teammates Annika Ahlund and Ingrid Olofsson. 
 
In the men’s team competition the 4th placed Americans created the upset by defeating the Swedish team by two points in the semi-final. The very strong performance of the Barebow archer made the difference, in a domain usually dominated by the Swedes.

The opponents of the Americans in the gold medal final were the Italians who entered the final being the favourites after easily winning against the German team. However, once more Mark Applegate shot close to perfection again, with three 5’s and one 3 at the last target. The Italian barebow shooter could "only" match this with 4’s and Dave Cousins and Vic Wunderle took care of business. 

So the gold medal went to USA with 56 points, silver went to Italy and Germany claimed the bronze medal. 
 
In the junior class Italy got its consolation, claiming the title with a one point advantage over Sweden. 
 
Ludivine Maitre Wicki / Tom Dielen 
FITA Communication