American Brady Ellison is, without a doubt, one of the finest archers in the world. But he’s been very unhappy with his inability to win a World Cup stage over the last three years.
So he was all smiles when he ran through the field like a buzzsaw in Medellin (COL), winning his matches by decisive 6-2, 7-3 and 6-4 scores before heading into the final against Korea’s Woo-Seok Lee.
But that was no problem, either, as Ellison outscored Lee, 29-27, 28-28, 30-27, 29-29 for a 6-2 victory.
“It’s emotional, man,” he said afterwards. “It’s been a long frickin’ time. You know it’s funny when we were coming out to the podium, [two-time World Champion] Kim Woo-Jin was like ‘welcome back.’ And coming from him I think it’s a strong statement.
“I think I’m back. I think I’m only going to get stronger. I’m still nervous about these tournaments because it’s been so long. I still need to keep working, I still need another couple of months and then I’ll be back to 100%. Yeah, then there’s more to come; maybe that 700 [in qualifying].”
Ellison shot 692 to co-lead the qualifying in Medellin, on his way to his 11th World Cup win, including four World Cup Final victories. His last stage win? In Medellin also, back in 2016.
He also teamed up with the newest American shooting star, 15-year-old Casey Kaufhold, to win a silver in the Mixed Team event. They fought Korea’s Kim and Chae-Young Kang to a standstill, with a 19-19 shoot-off in the fifth end, decided by a closest-to-the-center arrow, but ended up second.
Kaufhold, competing in her first outdoor World Cup, reached the second round in the women’s event, won by Kang over France’s Melanie Gaubil, 6-0.
In the Compound division, Colombia’s Sara Lopez earned her 10th World Cup stage win in a closest-to-the-center final-arrow battle with Jodi Vermeulen (NED). American Alex Ruiz, 19, won the bronze medal and took home three medals in all, as she was part of the runner-up Compound Team event and won the Mixed Team Compound event with Matt Sullivan.
Braden Gellenthien of the U.S. reached the final of the men’s Compound division, but ended up just short of Dutch star Mike Schloesser, losing 149-145. Summaries:
World Archery World Cup no. 1
Medellin (COL) ~ 22-28 April 2019
(Full results here)
Men
Recurve: 1. Brady Ellison (USA); 2. Woo-Seok Lee (KOR); 3. Woo-Jin Kim (KOR); 4. Sjef van den Berg (NED). Semis: Ellison d. van den Berg, 6-4; Lee d. Kim, 6-2. Third: Kim d. van den Berg, 6-4. Final: Ellison d. Lee, 6-2.
Team Recurve: 1. Korea (Woo-Jin Kim, Seung-Yun Lee, Woo-Seok Lee); 2. Australia; 3. Netherlands; 4. Canada. Semis: Korea d. Canada, 6-0; Australia d. Netherlands, 5-3. Third: Netherlands d. Canada, 5-4 (29-28). Final: Korea d. Australia, 5-3.
Compound: 1. Mike Schloesser (NED); 2. Braden Gellenthien (USA); 3. Jean Philippe Boulch (FRA); 4. Tate Morgan (USA). Semis: Gellenthien d. Morgan, 150-146; Schloesser d. Boulch, 149-148. Third: Boulch d. Morgan 145-145 (shoot-off: 10-9). Final: Schloesser d. Gellenthien, 149-145.
Team Compound: 1. Italy (Pagnoni, Pagni, Mior); 2. France; 3. Netherlands; 4. United States (Matt Sullivan, Tate Morgan, Kris Schaff). Semis: Italy d. Netherlands, 237-231; France d. U.S., 235-235 (shoot-off: 29-28); Third: Netherlands d. U.S., 233-232. Final: Italy d. France, 234-231.
Women
Recurve: 1. Chae-Young Kang (KOR); 2. Melanie Gaubil (FRA); 3. Tomoni Sugimoto (JPN); 4. Lu Lan (CHN). Semis: Kang d. Sugimoto, 6-0; Gaubil d. Lan, 7-1. Third: Sugimoto d. Lan, 6-4. Final: Kang d. Gaubil, 6-0.
Team Recurve: 1. Korea (Kang, Choi, Chang); 2. Italy; 3. France; 4. Spain. Semis: Korea d. France, 6-0; Italy d. Spain, 5-4 (shoot-off: 27-26). Third: France d. Spain, 5-3. Final: Korea d. Italy, 6-0.
Compound: 1. Sara Lopez (COL); 2. Jodi Vermeulen (NED); 3. Alexis Ruiz (USA); 4. Tanja Jensen (DEN). Semis: Lopez d. Jensen, 149-146; Vermeulen d. Ruiz, 148-142. Third: Ruiz d. Jensen, 145-144. Final: Lopez d. Vermeulen, 146-146 (9-9, closest to the center).
Team Compound: 1. Colombia (Lopez, Usquiano, Sandino Borrais); 2. United States (Alexis Ruiz, Sophia Strachan, Jamie van Natta). 3. Italy; 4. Peru. Semis: Colombia d. Peru, 237-212; U.S. d. Italy, 232-222. Third: Italy d. Peru, 222-195. Final: Colombia d. U.S., 230-229.
Mixed
Team Recurve: 1. Korea (Chae-Young Kang/Woo-Jin Kim); 2. United States (Casey Kaufhold/Brady Ellison); 3. China; 4. France. Semis: Korea d. France, 6-2; U.S. d. China, 6-2. Third: China d. France, 5-3. Final: Korea d. U.S., 5-4 (19-19, closest to the center).
Team Compound: 1. United States (Alexis Ruiz/Matt Sullivan); 2. France; 3. Colombia; 4. Netherlands. Semis: U.S. d. Netherlands, 156-155; France d. Colombia, 157-154. Third: Colombia d. Netherlands, 156-148. Final: U.S. d. France, 155-152.
