Valladont, Anagoz in pole for Europe’s Rio 2016 spots

Jean-Charles Valladont qualified first with 671 points out of a possible 720 in tricky conditions at the European Archery Championships in Nottingham – a score that also guaranteed him the pole position for the continental qualifying tournament for Rio 2016.

Only teams that have not already won a place to the Olympics enter athletes into the quota competition, which awards three men’s and three women’s invitations, in Nottingham.

JC was followed Mete Gazoz from Turkey and Dutchman Rick van der Ven with 670 and 664 points, each. Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympian Mete took second seed in the quota tournament but the Netherlands already has a full-team quota secured, so is not entered.

Quality was the key to Valladont’s session, he said:

“Before the Europeans I was training at INSEP. I was shooting just a few arrows a day, but good quality arrows, no matter the weather we had – as it was what I expected here: quality, as there’s not many arrows to shoot during qualification.”

While many struggled with blustering wind, Valladont averaged just under 9.4 points per shot over the 72-arrow, 70-metre qualification round.

“Being first seed for the continental qualifying tournament doesn’t mean a lot yet as only the first three will qualify the place,” he explained. Many recurve archers in Nottingham prepare for two eliminations brackets: the Europeans and the continental quota tournament for Rio, which takes place on the afternoon of Thursday 26 and morning of Friday 27 May.

“For me and the French team it’s what really matters: having an individual place here and then looking for a team place in Antalya. I could be first, fifth or 10th, but I’ll give all my best to qualify.”

The recurve women’s qualification at the Europeans was led by Tuiana Dashidorzhieva from Russia, Turkey’s Yasemin Anagoz and Germany’s Elena Ritcher.

As Russia already qualified a full team for Rio and Germany an individual place, 17 year-old Yasemin Anagoz and teammate Gulnaz Coskun received the top two seeds in the recurve women’s Rio quota tournament.

“It’s great to be second seeded overall and be on top for the quota tournament because the conditions were very difficult, but I stayed strong,” said Yasemin.

“To be first for the Rio qualifying event is very important for us, probably more than the overall qualification, because we still don’t have a place for Rio. We’ll fight for it.”

The compound men’s and women’s competition’s saw Mister Perfect Mike Schloesser and reigning World Field champion Toja Ellison take early command. Mike, who shot 700 out of 720 points, shy of his recent performances, still led the conditions-challenged field.

“I also had some mental problems at the start of the competition,” admitted Mike. “I was afraid of shooting well, I wasn’t doing my shots, but I finally found what to do and started shooting better and better.”

Slovenia’s Toja Ellison posted 347 in the first half and 337 in the second for 684 points overall.

“The first half was good and then the second half I started well,” Toja explained. “Then, when the sun came, during the last two ends, I just lost it.” 

“Those ends were bad but thankfully I had enough points so I stayed on top.”

Results from the continental qualification tournament can be found on a dedicated tournament page.