MEXICO CITY, Mexico - Early elimination matches today put U.S. archers on the path to success at the World Archery Championships.
Jake Kaminski (Gainesville, Florida) and Brady Ellison (Globe, Arizona) both had tough first round matches. Ellison, seeded 15th, was up 3-1 after the first three sets against Cuba's Puente. Puente took a strong turn and brought the score to a 4-4 tie, but a final 29 gave Ellison the last set win and the ticket to the next round. 50th seed Kaminski started slow but forced a shoot off against Sierakowski of Poland and took the win to face Ellison in the second round.
Going head to head, Kaminski took an early lead, up 4-0 after two sets. Ellison took the third set, but matching scores over the next six arrows brought the men to a 6-4 tally with Kaminski taking the win.
Kaminski commented: "I came back from 5-1 down to win a shoot off, and then I just beat Brady, unfortunately I knocked out a teammate but we always have fun shooting against each other."
On the compound side, Braden Gellenthien (Hudson, Massachusetts) had a bye through today's matches, but teammate Steve Anderson (West Jordan, Utah) got some solid warm-up in his first round with a 145-139 win over Favoreto of Brazil before crushing a 149 to take his second round match over Australia's Olexienko by an even greater margin.
On the team's performance, Anderson commented: "Braden didn't shoot today, but he's been shooting well and Kris and I are on an upward trend. I really found some rhythm today that I didn't have yesterday or the day before so I'm feeling a lot better and a lot more confident. We always feel confident as a team; we work well together. This is one of the most cohesive teams I've ever been a part of so we're going to go do our best, and if we do we will be at the top."
Rounding out the trio, Kris Schaff came in at the second round following a 13th place seed earlier this week and took a 146-143 win over Malaysia's Ruslan to advance. He added: "I'm feeling good. I definitely need to warm up a little bit more tomorrow but I felt good towards the end of the match. In terms of the team, I couldn't pick a stronger team out there and we all get along great and we shoot even better as a team."
Top U.S. women's compound qualifier Cassidy Cox (Albuquerque, New Mexico) cleared a bye and second round match with a 146-141 decision over Canada's Maude to continue in tomorrow's competition.
Recurve women Mackenzie Brown (Flint, Texas) and Khatuna Lorig (Denver, Colorado) both had byes into the second round and won their matches to continue tomorrow. Brown, seeded 9th, took a strong 6-0 win over Germany's Kroppen with high scores. Lorig also took an impressive 6-2 victory over Sepulveda of Colombia. Teammate Eliana Claps (Everett, Washington) had a first round exit 6-0 to Turkey's Anagoz.
Also exiting in the first round, Tom Stanwood (Raynham, Massachusetts) posted strong shots in against Olympic Champion Viktor Ruban. Over four sets, Ruban put only four arrows in the 9 ring instead of the 10, and while Stanwood managed a tie on one set, Ruban took the win 7-1.
Compound women Paige Gore (Red Bluff, California) and Lexi Keller (Omro, Wisconsin) had byes into the second round, but fell in their first matches. Keller was outscored by Norway's Grydeland while Gore posted a 141 to Russia's Savenkova's 146. Gore commented that her shots felt strong and she was happy with her performance, the arrows just did not land where they needed to for the score.
Competition resumes tomorrow with individual and compound team eliminations through the semifinals. Results throughout the competition are available at www.worldarchery.org. The medal matches this weekend will stream live on the Olympic Channel. For more, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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