Following a class-act performance by the U.S. recurve women's team this morning, the U.S. women's and men's compound teams shot their 72-arrow, 50 meter qualification rounds to end the first day of competition at the World Archery Championships in Torino, Italy. Determined to achieve strong qualification scores, the teams, led by Jamie Van Natta (Toledo, OH) and Reo Wilde (Pocatello, ID) took the lead and never looked back.
Shooting his way to a new World Record, Wilde, who is seeking his second consecutive World Championship title, led the compound men's qualification round with a 714, starting at the top and refusing to relinquish his hold on the number one position. Teammate Jesse Broadwater (Jennerstown, PA) climbed his way to the second spot after the first two ends, where he remained throughout the round, ending with a 710.
Denmark's Martin Damsbo finished with a third place qualification, shooting a 707, while Team USA's Braden Gellenthien (Woodbridge, VA) shot his way to a number four ranking, just one point behind Damsbo. With their scores, Wilde, Broadwater and Gellenthien also secured a number one team qualification for the U.S. compound men, and broke their own World Record for team qualifications, setting a new record by 14 points with a combined 2130.
On the women's side, World Record holder Van Natta shot her way to the number one spot early in the round, and kept her hold on it despite fierce competition from Albina Loginova (RUS), and Camille Bouffard-Demers (CAN). Van Natta ultimately shot a 700 for her first place finish, while teammates Erika Anschutz (Dumas, TX) qualified 6th with a 691, and Christie Colin (Ransomville, NY) finished 7th with the same score.
Shooting a team qualification score of 2082, just one point behind their standing World Record shot in Porec this May, the U.S. women's compound team has secured the top qualification spot, followed by Korea and Iran. The U.S. compound mixed team of Van Natta and Wilde also qualified number one today, followed by Canada and Iran.
The World Archery Championships is a biannual event, attracting the world's best archers as they compete for gold medals and the prestigious title of "World Champion." On the recurve side, teams are also competing at this event for quota spots for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The tournament is being held in Torino, the former capital of Italy.
"The venues for the world championships are directly connected to the events and personalities of the Italian Renaissance," according to the World Archery Federation (formerly FITA). "The final matches will be contested in the Piazza Castello, the old parade ground in the heart of the city which is overlooked by Palazzo Reale, Palazzo Madama, and other symbolic buildings of baroque age. The qualifications and first rounds of eliminations will take place in the 18th-century hunting residence of Stupinigi, which is one of the Savoy palaces designed by Filippo Juvarra."
The event continues tomorrow with the recurve men's qualification round, and team eliminations on Wednesday. The compound women will face Spain in their first match; the remainder of the compound team and individual brackets were not yet available as of this writing.
For complete results from today's matches, visit http://www.archery.org. USA Archery will be tweeting results, quotes and other updates live throughout the week; follow "usaarchery" on Twitter and "like" us on Facebook to join in the excitement of the World Archery Championships!
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