PARIS, France – Casey Kaufhold continued her fine form in the recurve women to move into medal contention on day four of the World Cup Stage #4.
The 19-year-old will face Choi Misun of Korea on Sunday in the semifinals, with competition moving from inside the Charléty Stadium to Invalides, which will be the archery venue for next year’s Olympic Games.
Kaufhold, seeded three, began at the 1/32nd round with a 6-2 win over Nicoleta Clima (MDA), before moving through the rounds with similar success over Veronika Marchenko (UKR) and Elif Berra Gokkir (TUR). Gokkir had earlier overcome Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez in the 1/32nd round.
The quarterfinal contest was a tougher test for Kaufhold. She was locked at 5-5 with Peng Chia-Mao (TPE) but got the best of a pair of nines in a one-arrow shootoff to confirm her place in the final four.
Elsewhere, Gabrielle Sasai fell to Lei Chien-Ying (TPE) in the 1/32nd round, while Catalina GNoriega was defeated by home favorite Caroline Lopez (FRA).
In the recurve men, Brady Ellison stormed through his 1/32nd round with a 7-1 win over Maximilian Weckmueller (GER) before falling to Qi Xiangshuo (CHN) in a one-arrow shootoff. Jackson Mirich went out at the same stage in similar fashion, losing out to another German in Felix Wieser. Both archers shot a 10 in the shootoff. Jack Williams went out at the 1/32nd round to Marcus D’Almeida (BRA) who is through to the semifinals.
The compound mixed team pairing of Alexis Ruiz and Kris Schaff will compete for gold on Saturday, where they will face Puerto Rico. Ruiz and Schaff rattled off three scores of 158, which was good enough to defeat France, Estonia and the Netherlands.
Ellison and Kaufhold, in the recurve mixed team, beat Ukraine 6-2 before tumbling out to China in the quarterfinals.
Schaff will be involved in two gold medal matches on Saturday. As well as teaming up with Ruiz in the compound mixed team, he will also stand alongside James Lutz and Sawyer Sullivan in the compound men’s team event.
