Istanbul, Turkey - Four American compound archers qualified for sought-after spots in the World Cup Final, and after facing off against the world's best archers in their category today, each of them will return to the United States with at least one gold or silver medal, and for Erika Anschutz (OH) and Rodger Willett, Jr. (VA), the World Cup individual title as well as the Longines Prize for Precision.
Anschutz' and Willett's wins cap off a big day for Team USA archers, which included silver medal wins for teammates Christie Colin (PA) and Reo Wilde (ID), as well as a compound mixed team gold medal victory for Colin and Willett. Taking bronze medals today were Italy's Sergio Pagni for the compound men, and his teammate Marcella Tonioli for the compound women.
Compound Men's Gold Medal Match (Courtesy of World Archery Communications)
The best two archers in the world faced each other for the World Cup Final title and the two were still in the race for the Longines Prize for Precision (WILLET 415, WILDE 411).
WILDE had the best start with a perfect first end. He led WILLET by two points (30-28) after the latter opened the match with an 8 but he then went on shooting eight 10s in a row to lead 58-56 after two ends and 88-83 after three.
WILLET then went out of the 10-ring for two arrows, but with 9-9-10, against 9-10-10 for WILDE, he still led by four (116-112) with one end to go. WILDE came back strongly in the final end with 10-10-9. However, a final triple 9 was enough for WILLET to clinch victory by 143-141.
WILLET also won the Longines Prize for Precision with 424 tens during the World Cup season, against 418 for WILDE.
Compound Women's Gold Medal Match
With gusts of wind blowing on the field, it was hard for the athletes to remain stable. And it is certainly what happened to COLIN at her second arrow of the match when she shot a 6. She trailed by four points already after the first end (25-29).
The two ladies kept their arrows in the yellow in the second end and the gap remained at 57-53 in favour of ANSCHUTZ. She increased her lead at 85-80 after her opponent scored an 8 to open the following series. Shooting close to perfection despite windy conditions, ANSCHUTZ kept increasing her lead and she needed a 5 to win at her last arrow.
A gust of wind just when she released and her arrow hit the 7-ring, the first arrow out of the yellow for her but this was enough to clinch ANSCHUTZ's first World Cup Final victory (142-138). The latter clinched the Longines Prize for Precision at the same time, finishing the World Cup season with 304 tens.
Archery World Cup Final - Facts
� 32 individual athletes coming from 15 countries-same number of countries represented at the 2010 World Cup Final in Edinburgh.
� 10 of the athletes have been world champions
� 11 athletes already participated in a World Cup Final and 6 already won it (3 were winners in Edinburgh)
� Athletes will all play for a share of prize-money and awards totalling more than 150'000 CHF
The recurve athletes will take the field on Sunday, 25 September. The matches will be contested in the best-of-five sets format. Each set consists of three arrows and is worth two points; each archer gets one point in case of a tied set. The first archer with six set points wins the match. In the case of a tied match at 5-5 in set points, a one-arrow shoot-off is shot. The winner is the archer whose arrow is closest to centre.
For live scores, visit http://www.archery.org. To watch the event live, visit http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/source/espn3/ beginning at 6:50 a.m. EDT Sunday.
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