Belgium takes two individual gold medals

Recurve Men

Bronze Medal – Simon TERRY (GBR) vs Jean-Charles VALLADONT (FRA)

Simon TERRY was a double medallist at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games! After coming out of retirement his team won silver at the 2007 World Championships and 2nd at the last World Cup Final. The young VALLADONT also won the silver with his team at the last World Championships. These archers have met twice, at last year’s World Cup Stage 1 and Indoor World Championships. It was both times in quarterfinals, and VALLADONT won twice 118-116. TERRY took revenge today in straight sets: 27-26, 29-25, 29-26. Bronze medal for TERRY!

The top archers Jamie VAN NATTA and Crispin DUENAS helped us with their commentaries today.

Crispin: TERRY looked very strong and consistent with his shots. It looked like VALLADONT was working with new form and it is possible that this is what made him shoot too many 8s in the match.

Gold Medal – Victor WUNDERLE (USA) vs Brady ELLISON (USA)

Both Americans were members of the 2008 US Olympic team. WUNDERLE had earlier won two Olympic medals, a silver and a bronze. This will be a remake of the Arizona Cup Final last month, where Brady ELLISON beat Vic WUNDERLE 6-0. The athletes tied at 28-28 and 29-29 in the first two sets. Brady gained his lead in the third set 30-26. A new tie in the fourth set (28-28) meant Brady was now leading 5-3. The younger American shot a good last end (10-9-10) to beat WUNDERLE’s 9-8-8. Brady ELLISON has won the gold and with his ten 10s was able to raise more money in his fight against breast cancer.

Crispin: WUNDERLE started the match shooting very strong but started to slow down as the match progressed. ELLISON maintained his solid form shooting ten 10s to win the match over WUNDERLE. Brady should be very proud of himself.

Recurve Women

Bronze Medal – Justyna MOSPINEK (POL) vs Bérengère SCHUH (FRA)

Bérengère SCHUH (FRA) has been a consistent top archer during the last decade. She was indoor world champion in 2003, European outdoor champion in 2008 and won the team bronze in Beijing. MOSPINEK, who had won the 2008 World Cup Final in Lausanne over the several times Olympic champion PARK, and SCHUH, winner of the World Cup stage 1 last year, had never met before. SCHUH lost the first set 25-29, but she came back in the next two (30-16, 29-28) to lead 4-2. The archer from Poland missed her fourth set (9-9-7) which gave Bérengère the set and the bronze medal.

Crispin: SCHUH had a very shaky start to her match giving MOSPINEK the first set. SCHUH calmed down for the second set and only dropped 3 arrows outside of the 10 in the next nine arrows. MOSPINEK seemed tentative after the first set. Great shooting by Bérengère.

Gold Medal – Sabrina STRUYF (BEL) vs Elena KUZNETSOVA (BLR)

KUZNETSOVA, who placed 5th at the Ulsan World Championships, had beaten the 20-year-old STRUYF at last year’s World Cup stage 3 in Antalya. This time STRUYF took the first set 28-22 but lost the next two (26-27, 24-27). She came back in the fourth set to tie at 4-4. Both archers shot two 10s and an 8 in the last set, resulting in a shoot-off. The Belgian archer shot a 9, then KUZNETSOVA had problems with the timing and managed only an 8 at the very last second. It’s the second gold medal for Belgium today!

Crispin: STRUYF looked determined from the beginning of the match and never looked back. Even though KUZNETSOVA won sets 2 and 3, STRUYF showed her tenacity winning set 4 and forcing a shoot-off in set 5. STRUYF’s 9 in the shoot-off gave her a convincing win.

Compound Men

Bronze Medal – Martin DAMSBO (DEN) vs Reo WILDE (USA)

Reo WILDE, who at 36 years old is one of the most experienced archers present in Porec, is a team world champion from Leipzig and Ulsan. Individually, he won gold at the World Cup Final in Merida 2006, the World Indoor Championships in Nimes 2003 and the World Indoor Championships in Aalborg 2005. Finally, in 2009 Reo managed to follow in the footsteps of his father Dee WILDE, who was world champion in 1997 and whose name has appeared on over 50 world records.

This was the first encounter between the 2009 world champion WILDE and the talented Danish archer, who has been a regular presence on the World Cup lineup since 2006. The American took the first set 30-28. ). The archers tied at 28-28 in the second set, so the American was leading 3 set points to 1. WILDE was perfect again in the third set (30-29) to comfort his lead 5-1. He tied the fourth set 28-28 and took the bronze medal 6-2.

Jamie: The new Set System makes it hard for an athlete to build up momentum because even if you shoot a 30 it’s like starting over the next three arrows.

Gold Medal – Sergio PAGNI (ITA) vs Sam KYRITSOGLOU (BEL)

This final features a surprise contender, the No. 59 from qualifications (!) KYRITSOGLOU who beat the world champion WILDE in the previous round. As for PAGNI, he is the only one who has won four World Cup stages and he was the winner of the Copenhagen World Cup Final! The Italian will try to go for the hat-trick, after his victories in 2008 and 2009 in the Porec marina.

KYRITSOGLOU took the first set 29-28, but PAGNI took the second 28-27 to tie at 2-2. The scores of the third and fourth set were 29-28, each archer taking one set. The score was tied at 4-4 and then again at 5-5 (29-29). PAGNI scored a 9 in the shoot-off, opening the door for his opponent. The Belgian archer did a 10 to win the gold medal.

Jamie: The Set System is a new game for most of us. Today two of the four matches were decided in favour of archers who were trailing in arrow score after the first 12 arrows (the previous end point of a match). Though shooting a perfect 30 gives the archer a good feeling, it no longer means as much in the final reckoning. Any arrow points are no longer carried over from previous ends, removing the comfortable feeling of being a few points ahead. Each set is like starting over with almost no advantage from previous successes. It’s a new mindset and may bring some surprising results for a while.

Compound Women

Bronze Medal – Sandrine VANDIONANT (FRA) vs Erika ANSCHUTZ (USA)

It is the first match between the French archer and the 21-year-old American, who won two team bronze medals at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships. Erika ANSCHUTZ won the first set 27-24, but VANDIONANT came back with 10-9-10 to win the second set (29-25). The score was tied 2-2. The French archer scored 9-10-10 in the third set against ANSCHUTZ’s 10-8-8. The American managed to tie 4-4 thanks to a bad set by VANDIONANT. Both archers shot a 9 and a 10 in the decisive set. Erika shot her last arrow first and it was a 9. The French archer concluded with a 10 to win the set and the bronze medal.

Jamie: There might be some difficulties seeing because it suddenly got very bright and the targets are in the shadow. The flags near the target are protected by an archer, so the flags to watch are the wind socks and the flags on the boat which are very far from the sightline. The difference in the speed of the shots indicates to me that there is some difficulty seeing the target because archers have to spend more time looking for the yellow. I think it’s a particularly difficult venue because the difference between the practice field and the venue is large. The practice field is protected and also bright (no shade), here there are differences in lighting and because of the openness right on the sea.

Gold Medal – Nicky HUNT (GBR) vs Ashley WALLACE (CAN)

Nicky HUNT, the winner at the Porec World Cup last year and 2009 World Cup finalist, and WALLACE, who placed 5th individually in Ulsan, have never met before. WALLACE won the first set 29-26 and the archers tied in the second 29-29. The Canadian led 3-1, then 5-1. Nicky HUNT was perfect in the fourth set, which she won 30-29. She won the last set to tie at 5-5. However despite losing two sets Ashley WALLACE was the best in the shoot-off (10-9). The Canadian archer has won the gold medal!

I think those archers took a hint from the previous match because their arrows are low while in the previous match all the arrows started out very high. Ashley is shooting very consistently and it helps sometimes to have shot earlier in the day at this venue. As an archer shooting three 10s like Nicky did really boosts your confidence and makes you feel good for the next three. Archers either love or hate the one-arrow shoot-off and it looks like Ashley WALLACE is going to be an archer who loves them.

This marked the end of the Porec World Cup. See you in Antalya for the stage 2!

Vanahé ANTILLE
World Archery Communication