MEDELLIN, Colombia - After a strong showing during qualification yesterday and even stronger shooting in eliminations this morning, U.S. archers are poised to take three of four possible individual titles at World Cup Medellin, plus compound mixed team bronze.
An unfortunate bracketing saw two head to head U.S. matches in the quarterfinals: recurve and compound men with Brady Ellison and Jake Kaminski, and Steve Anderson and Reo Wilde shooting against each other in their respective divisions. The matches were intensely heated as Ellison and Kaminski brought their match to a 4-4 tie before Ellison took the win in the last set by just one point. Wilde and Anderson also took their match to a one-arrow shoot off as the two matched with 147s. Wilde took the shoot off win with a perfect X over Anderson's 10.
"I tried some stuff during qualification and it didn't work so well," commented Wilde to World Archery on his 18th place seed. "It kind of bummed me out because I always like being on the team, and I was the fourth man. I went back to the practice range as soon as we were done, undid everything, and it worked good." He then took a narrow 148-147 win over the Netherlands' Mike Schloesser to advance to the gold final.
Recurve shooter Collin Klimitchek had seeded 29th, but managed to upset the brackets, shooting at perfect 120 in four sets in his 1/16th match this morning against Korean star Lee Seungyun. Possibly the first time a U.S. archer has ever accomplished this in competition, Klimitchek also knocked out Tarundeep Rai of India in the 1/8th before he was stopped in a tight 6-4 quarterfinal match with Japan's Kikuchi.
On the compound women's side Crystal Gauvin also earned herself a place in the gold medal final, but with a slightly bumpier ride. She faced USA's Emily Bee in the 1/8th before dropping a an arrow in the seven-ring in her quarterfinal match and commented to World Archery: "I had just come off having to shoot against my teammate, which never is fun. My head just wasn't in it. I just sprayed the target, had a seven. But I made it through and I'm into the gold medal against Sara Lopez."
Gauvin then teamed up with Alex Wifler for the compound mixed team event where the top seeded duo breezed through their quarterfinal 155-150 over Spain before facing Italy in the semifinals. The two teams went toe-to-toe through the entire match until they tied 154-154 and went to a shoot off. Italy took the win and USA will shoot for bronze this weekend.
Competition resumes tomorrow with team eliminations through the semifinal matches. Complete results from today's competition can be found here. For more, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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