The USA’s Braden Gellenthien and Jamie van Natta qualified as the second seeded compound mixed team at the first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai, China – following late arrivals for the majority of the States team.
Many of them were shooting the South Dakota Classic in Yankton over the weekend so planned a last minute arrival, while others got stuck in Japan overnight after flight plans went awry.
“We arrived to our hotel at 11h00 last night and got up at four so that probably had a little to do [with the slightly lower scores than we expected], but that’s no real excuse,” said Gellenthien.
Braden scored 708/720 points for the 72-arrow 50-metre ranking round, good for fourth man, while Jamie had 700 and second in the women’s list.
“I’m delighted. I focused today on how much fun I have doing this. I really love shooting. For me, today is the perfect day: cloud, little bit of rain, little bit of wind,” she said, adding that the conditions forced her to concentrate. “I like it because it makes you pay attention.”
With snow falling at home, all the practice Jamie had managed in the lead-up was blank boss, indoors at home.
“Jamie had a great day, it’s awesome to see her back in her form and I’m really excited for the mixed team matches,” said Gellenthien.
Jamie and Braden previously shot together internationally only once as a mixed team when they lost to France in the quarterfinals of the 2015 World Archery Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“I got a little disorientated in the wind and shot the wrong target,” explained Braden. (The pair lost the match by eight points.) “It would be good to get a little redemption from that match in Denmark.”
Korea was the top seeded compound mixed team with a combined 1412 points, Braden and Jamie had 1408 and Denmark came third with 1401 (and more 10s than Chinese Taipei).
The first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Shanghai, China on 23-29 April.
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