LAUSANNE, Switzerland - After a relatively quiet 2013, Olympic medalist Brady Ellison (Payson, Arizona) has come back in a big way.
First, he won the Pan American Championships, shooting on world record pace. Then, he took double gold at the World Archery Field Championships, in team and individual events.
And today, Ellison became the first archer in history to win the World Cup Final three times.
"It was a good win," Ellison said in a post-event interview. "I shot good finally, and I hope this reminds everyone that I am still here and have not gone away."
To get to the podium, he had to win three matches - and compete with the kind of confidence that helped him win the World Cup Final twice before.
His first opponent: Olympic champion Oh Jin Hyek of Korea, ranked second in the world and a fierce competitor.
Ellison took Oh to five sets in today's quarterfinals, making it a 5-5 tie. In the one arrow shoot-off, both archers hit perfect 10s - but Ellison's was closer to center, giving him the win.
In the semifinals, Ellison had yet another tough matchup, with World No. 3 Rick van der Ven (NED). With a score of 6-4, Ellison punched his ticket to the gold medal final; van der Ven went on to win bronze.
In the last match of the day, Ellison found a worthy opponent in 16-year-old Marcus D'Almeida of Brazil, who had defeated American Jake Kaminski (Gainesville, Florida) in the quarterfinals.
Keeping fans on edge, Ellison and D'Almeida brought the gold medal showdown to a 5-all tie, which Ellison won with a closer 9 in the shoot-off.
Ellison told World Archery that he's looking toward the future: "Hopefully I will continue this. At the end of the year, I'm looking forward to Indoor season. I'll get ready for next year's World Championships and start my big push for the 2016 Olympics."
Watch every arrow of Ellison's matches today, via World
Archery: http://archy.re/WCF2014.
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