13 September 2006 - Wind dominates the European Championships

Wind dominates the Championships Athens - 13 September 2006   The wind was the main topic of discussions as the European championships got on their way. During the qualifications this Wednesday, wind gusts sometimes above 50km/h drove most of the archers crazy and the scores are no reference to the quality of the archers present.   It has been seen rarely that a score just above 600 gave you a first place. During the qualifications of the European Championships in Athens today, that was the case. The discussion of should there be a max wind speed limit introduced for a fair competition will be on the table of the next FITA Council meeting for sure.   However despite the winds the archers expected to perform well are in the first places. In recurve men, Michele Frangilli is in the 1st place with 609 points (being the only archer above 600 points) followed by Russians Ilia Sidorin and Markiyan Ivashko from Ukraine. Ilario Di Buo is 4th and Olympic Champion Marco Galiazzo who makes his return to Athens after the Olympics is in 6th place with 583 points.   The cut for 64th place was at 514 points showing once more the terrible shooting conditions caused by the wind.   The women recurve’s competition sees Alison Williamson, the bronze medalist of the Athens Games in first place with 602 points. As for the men’s first place she is the only one to have passed the 600 mark. Tetyana Berezhna from the Ukraine is 2nd and Sophie Dodemont from France who finished 2nd in the World Field Championships is showing that she is indeed in great shape.   The Compound Men’s competition is shaping up as a strange one since some of the favourites are having a hard time. Morgan Lundin who was just crowned World Field Champion is in 33rd position. Martin Damsbo who shot in El Salvador in June his 1400 star is leading with 672 points. He is followed by Sebastien Brasseur with 664 points. Emiel Custers one of the strong members of the Dutch teams just made the cut with 605 points.   The Women Compound’s competition is led by Camilla Soemod (640) from Denmark. 2nd is the Silver Medallist from the recent Field Championships, Gladys Willems (634) from Belgium and third is Mrs “I shoot all bows”, Petra Ericsson (619) who two weeks ago became Team Field World Champion with a recurve bow. Now she is in third place with a compound bow. She continues to amaze.   FITA Communication Tom Dielen