NORMANDY, France – Emma Kim, the USA’s highest ranked U18 recurve archer, is on target for gold at the ISF Gymnasiade, a prestigious multi-sport event for high school student athletes age 16-18.
The double 60-meter round world record holder, qualified 4th, has historically been a strong ranking round shooter, proving herself over time to also be a fierce match play competitor. Kim met USA’s Ailene Pak in the round of 16 and came away with the win 6-2 with high set scores. She then had a close 6-4 quarterfinal against Turkey’s Defne Derebasi to make it through to the final four. Kim will compete in televised semifinal and medal matches this weekend.
Notably, recurve men’s 23rd seed Landon Richardson upset France’s Romain Viale in what was an incredible first round matchup; the two went back and forth with strong scores to force a shoot off. Both shot 9s too close to call and had to shoot a second shoot off to determine Richardson the winner. One of USA Archery’s newest Resident Athletes, Richardson continued to battle hard, but finished 6-4 behind Ukraine’s No. 7 Oleksandr Kryvoruchko in the round of 16.
USA’s Elizabeth Workman, Ewan An, Christian Stoddard , William Fowler and Kyler Grissom all made first round exits against tough competition.
In the mixed team event, Kim and Stoddard gave Spain a good fight in their first match, forcing a shoot off, but finished 5th overall.
Results from the competition are available via the ISF. Tomorrow’s competition features a fun international mixed team event that partners archers from different countries after the recurve team event in the morning. Medal matches are scheduled to broadcast Saturday on the Olympic Channel
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