NOVE MESTO, Czech Republic - On the growing para world ranking event circuit, Nove Mesto has been a popular staple. USA para archers again returned to the Czech Republic to compete against big names from over 30 countries.
Representing the recurve open men, Michael Lukow, Timothy Palumbo and Kevin Mather qualified 5th, 6th and 8th respectively with scores of 622, 621 and 619 in a tight division, putting them in 1st for team qualification.
Lukow had smooth sailing until the quarterfinals where he met 20th seed Piotr of Poland, who was on an incredible upset streak. The two went 5-5 to force a shoot off, where Lukow took the win to advance to face top seed Khutakov of Russia in the semifinals. A 6-2 decision sent Lukow to the bronze final where an exciting back and forth match gave him the ultimate 6-4 win and bronze finish.
Palumbo had an uphill battle, winning a shoot off in the 1/8th round and close 6-4 decisions in the quarter- and semifinals to take on Khutakov for gold. Finishing 6-2, Palumbo earned the silver for USA.
In the team event, the U.S. trio had strong 6-0 knockout wins straight into the gold final against Korea. Putting up just two points on the scoreboard against a strong performance from Korea, USA finished with silver.
Ben Thompson led the compound men, taking a 4th place seed all the way to the bronze win after great feats of mental strength, prevailing in a shoot off win in the semifinals and a double shoot off win the match before.
Thompson was joined by Sam Boyles and Eric Burkett in the team event where the 4th ranked U.S. compound open men's team was upset in the quarterfinals by Hong Kong in a shoot off by just one point.
Lia Coryell represented USA in the W1 women's division and beat a personal goal, scoring a 601 in qualification to rank 4th. Stopped in the quarterfinals in individual match play in a 121-119 finish, Coryell then teamed up with W1 men's Jason Tabansky in the mixed team event. Coming from a 5th place seed, the U.S. duo upset Rio 2016 silver medalists from the Czech Republic 132-129, and then outshot the top ranked team from Great Britain 136-134 to advance to the gold final where they finished with silver to an unstoppable performance from Russia.
Coryell continued, joining the compound open women's team with Martha Chavez and Tink Wallace. Wallace and Chavez had qualified 20th and 21st respectively and with Coryell, entered the team event seeded 4th. Falling to Great Britain in the semifinals, USA took on Russia in the bronze medal match. A 208 from Russia outscored USA to take the win.
Complete results from the competition are available here. Coming up on the para world ranking event circuit, USA Archery hosts a September event in Salt Lake City, Utah, with an International Classification opportunity on September 6th.
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