American archer Brady Ellison left no doubt whatsoever that he’s the best archer in the world for 2019 by winning the World Archery World Cup Final in Moscow (RUS).
The elimination format is always tricky, but Ellison had no trouble with Artem Makhnenko (RUS) in the quarterfinals, winning 7-1, then blew past Dutch star Sjef van den Berg, 6-2 in the semis. In the meantime, Italy’s Mauro Nespoli shut out Korea’s former World Champion Woo-Jin Kim, 6-0.
In the final, the two split the points, 29-29, then Ellison managed a 29-28 win (up 3-1) and the two split again in the third end, 28-28 (4-2). But Nespoli shot 10-9-9 in the fifth end and Ellison finished with 9-10-10 and won the end, 29-28 and the match, 6-2.
For Ellison, he added to his World Championships gold from earlier this year and his U.S. National title, U.S. Open win and U.S. Field Archery victory. It’s also his record fifth win in a World Cup Final, adding to his trophies from 2010-11-14-16.
“Yeah, I’m so excited and it’s my fifth win,” he said. “I won my first one and this is the 10th one I’ve been to, so to win the first and the 10th, I’m just super stoked right now.
“It was a hell of a year and I’ve just got to get back home and start training again and get back in the gym and really get ready to rock next year.”
In the women’s Recurve final, Korea’s Chae-Young Kang came back from an initial 3-1 deficit and defeated Chinese Taipei’s Ya-Ting Tan, 6-4. It looked like the match would to go a shoot-off, but one of Tan’s 10s was examined and marked a nine. It’s the fifth straight World Cup Final victory for a Korean woman.
In a match between former World Champions, Mike Schloesser (NED) defeated American Braden Gellenthien, 147-144 for the men’s Compound title and Sara Lopez (COL) defeated Russian Natalia Avdeeva, 149-139 for the women’s Compound title. It’s Schloesser’s second World Cup Final win (also in 2016) and the fifth for Lopez, who has now won in five of the last six years.
The Mixed Team finals are on Sunday. Summaries:
World Archery World Cup Final
Moscow (RUS) ~ 6-7 September 2019
(Full results here)
Men/Recurve: 1. Brady Ellison (USA); 2. Mauro Nespoli (ITA); 3. Sjef van den Berg (NED); 4. Woojin Kim (KOR). Third: van den Berg d. Kim, 7-1. Final: Ellison d. Nespoli, 6-2.
Men/Compound: 1. Mike Schloesser (NED); 2. Braden Gellenthien (USA); 3. Daniel Munoz (COL); 4. Anton Bulaev (RUS). Third: Munez d. Bulaev, 147-146. Final: Schloesser d. Gellenthien, 147-144.
Women/Recurve: 1. Chae-Young Kang (KOR); 2. Ya Ting Tan (TPE); 3. Yichai Zheng (CHN); 4. Qixuan An (CHN). Third: Zheng d. An, 6-4. Final: Kang d. Tan, 6-4.
Women/Compound: 1. Sara Lopez (COL); 2. Natalia Avdeeva (RUS); 3. Sophie Dodemont (FRA); 4. Tanja Jensen (DEN). Third: Dodemont d. Jensen, 143-141. Final: Lopez d. Avdeeva, 149-139.
