MEDELLIN, Colombia – The first stage of the 2019 Archery World Cup series opened finals with compound medal matches – featuring USA archers in every event. With the first three stages contested over just five weeks this year, competition is already white hot, evidenced by high scores all week.
On the compound women’s squad, World Youth Champion Alexis Ruiz, Columbia University student-athlete and 2016 world youth field champion Sophia Strachan made their world cup debuts on the big stage with multi-time world medalist Jamie Van Natta. Going for gold against home crowd favorites, the team from Colombia, led by World No. 2, Sara Lopez, the USA women faced a tough match. They opened down two, held strong, but by the third of four ends, Colombia had a three-point lead. With a 59 to finish, the U.S. team made a comeback, but it wasn’t enough, finishing with silver 230-229.
On the compound men’s team, reigning Indoor and Outdoor Series Champion Kris Schaff led Tate Morgan and Matt Sullivan in their world cup debuts, to face the Netherlands for bronze. The two teams qualified first and second, but lost out in semifinals. The largely rookie USA squad also had a few errant arrows, including a lower than average end of 56 when they were already down a point. They finished strong with a 60, but again, it wasn’t enough to close the gap and the Netherlands’ team took the win 233-232.
Alexis Ruiz and Matt Sullivan, top U.S. qualifiers, took on France for mixed team gold. With a commanding start, the U.S. duo opened with a perfect 40 for a three-point lead, which they retained with another 40 points in the third end to take a beautiful 155-152 win.
Ruiz immediately returned to the stage for the compound women’s bronze medal match against Denmark’s Tanja Jensen. The two shot strong, tied for much of the match with impressive scores. It wasn’t until the final three arrows when just millimeters clinched the win for Ruiz 145-144, giving her a full suite of gold, silver and bronze medals to bring home from her first world cup.
Braden Gellenthien won out over Tate Morgan in the compound men’s semifinal round. Morgan took his bronze final to an exciting end with a 145-145 tie against France’s Boulch, with Boulch holding until the last second to fire a 10 and take the win.
Gellenthien, the most decorated archer in world cup history had a rough qualification round, but then shot near perfect scores in match play, including two 150s. Frustrated in the finals arena, he managed just 145 points to the Netherland’s Sir Perfect, Mike Schloesser, who posted a 149 to take the gold.
Competition resumes tomorrow with the recurve finals, where Brady Ellison will shoot for individual gold and Ellison and Casey Kaufhold will take on the mixed team gold final. Scores are live at www.worldarchery.org. Live matches will be available on NBC’s Olympic Channel at www.olympicchannel.com/live.
Photo by World Archery.
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