ROME, Italy - The inaugural Indoor World Series continued with its largest event with the Roma Archery Trophy this weekend. With over 600 archers competing, the last major international tournament of 2018 featured competition for the world series categories, junior classes, and barebow and longbow divisions.
At the first event of the series, USA's 14 year old Casey Kaufhold set a new cadet world record of 589/600, shooting as a senior and won her first international title, taking gold in eliminations. Major U.S. standout at the second event was Alexis Ruiz, who won gold in the compound women's competition. With a strong national lineup in Rome, the event started out no different, with Cadet USAT's Faith Miller setting a junior compound world record of 594/600 in qualification, putting a point on Erika Jones' previous, longstanding record. "I did not realize that I could beat the world record. I still don't believe it. I didn't expect it at all," Miller told World Archery. "It's incredible. I did not imagine I would shoot so well."
Miller and Ruiz continued strong in eliminations in Rome. Miller breezed through her matches, winning each with very wide margins, dominating the junior field to win gold. Ruiz qualified second in Rome with a 590, just ahead of Paige Pearce's 5thplace 588. Pearce faced an early upset in the 1/8thround 147-148, but Ruiz cleared her matches with an impressive 150 in the quarterfinals to face Luxembourg's Shkolna for gold. With nerves of steel, Ruiz went two for two, crushing another series gold win 147-139.
In the first series event, Braden Gellenthien topped qualification but was upset early in match play. Back for the win, Gellenthien qualified fourth in a tough field with a 595, while Kris Schaff was 8thwith a 593, shooting with a borrowed bow. Schaff posted a 148 in his first match, and then only 149s and 150s to face Gellenthien in the highest scoring match of the day in the semifinals. Gellenthien's perfect 150 was unbeatable and he advanced to shoot for gold.
Schaff and Italy's Pagni tied on 149s in the bronze final and both scored 10s in the shoot off, but Pagni's took the win. Head to head with his friend and longtime competitor Gellenthein and Denmark's Damsbo put on an exciting show. It wasn't until the 5tharrow that Damsbo opened the door with a 9 and Gellenthien held steady with 10s, taking the lead. The two continued to match arrow for arrow, with Gellenthien not making a mistake until the final arrow, where the two finished in a 148-148 tie for a shoot off. With a solid 10, Gellenthien clinched the gold.
Also friends who have shot head to head many, many times, Brady Ellison and Canada's Crispin Duenas tied for first with 593s in qualification. The two fought strong through matches to meet for gold. Ellison made sight adjustments after coming in shooting left as Duenas scored only 10s to smoke a 6-0 win.
Kaufhold made another strong performance, qualifying 3rd, the only archer not from Korea in the top 6 of the recurve women. With only one arrow outside the gold all day, Kaufhold was a formidable opponent, but facing Korea's Kang in the quarterfinals, several 29s were met with 30s and it was not enough for Kaufhold to advance.
For the recurve juniors, Jackson Mirich qualified 9thin an impressive lineup. Mirich did not lose a single set on his way to the gold final, taking each as a win or a tie to advance. In the gold final with Italy's Canovai, Mirich met a tough match. Going back and forth the two met at a 5-5 standoff with one arrow to determine the winner. Canovai's 10 took the gold and Mirich finished with silver.
World field silver medalist Fawn Girard qualified 3rdfor the barebow women and finished 4thin eliminations with 6-2 losses in the semifinal and bronze final as the podium went to three Italian archers. John Demmer III qualified 2ndfor the barebow men and also finished 4th, falling in a one-arrow semifinal shoot off and 7-3 in the bronze final with world field champion Jonsson of Sweden.
Calvin Smock was the sole U.S. entrant in the longbow competition. Smock qualified 4thand upset the top seed Faletti of Italy 6-2 in the semifinals to go for gold. With high pressure on the finals stage, Smock fell 6-0 with some errant arrows to finish with the silver.
The indoor world series continues in 2019 in Nimes, France in mid-January. Complete results from the competition are available at www.worldarchery.org. Photo by World Archery.
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