PHOENIX, Arizona – The World Archery Championships – U.S. Team Trials is on its third stage for the recurve team selection in Arizona. Halfway through the weeklong event, the competition field has narrowed from the top sixteen men and women to just eight and by Thursday evening, USA Archery will nominate a strong team for the June event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
The Trials began with two 72-arrow qualification rounds at the 2018 National Target Championships, followed by another 72-arrow qualification round at last summer’s Buckeye Classic USAT series event.
Over the last three days, the top 16 archers competed in two more 72-arrow qualification rounds, followed by 15 round robin matches.
On the men’s field, Brady Ellison shot strong to maintain his hold on the top slot and widen his margin over the rest of the field to a nearly 13 trials point lead. Jack Williams shattered the junior national record (pending official verification) with a 1341/1440 – 34 points higher than the previous record to jump from 4thinto 2nd. Also Resident Athletes, training full time to succeed on the world stage, Matthew Requa and Alex Bourdage are just a few points behind.
Still in the running: 2017 World Archery Championships team member Thomas Stanwood, Matthew Nofel, Rio 2016 Olympic medalist Zach Garrett and Adam Heidt.
The recurve women’s field saw surprising changes as Olympian Mackenzie Brown dropped from 2ndto 14thon the first day in Arizona. After a tough day, Brown battled her way back to 4th. 15-year-old Casey Kaufhold continues to dominate, currently 6 trials points clear the rest of the field.
5-time Olympian Khatuna Lorig is sitting in 2nd, and holding on to 3rdis Erin Mickelberry, who has made intermittent appearances on the World Cup stage for the U.S., but has not yet competed at a World Archery Championships. 2018 Youth Olympic Games competitor Catalina GNoriega is still in the running, currently 5th, 2.5 trials points behind Brown. Tatyana Muntyan, Branduin Stroud and Brianna Laux round out the rest of the field.
Competition continues through Thursday with one-arrow shoot-off round robin matches, another 72-arrow qualification round, round robin matches, two 72-arrow team round simulations and a final set of round robin matches. The compound and Para teams for the Netherlands will be nominated following Trials events on April 8th. Updated standings from the Trials and complete results are available here.
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