1989 World Champion Zabrodski to shoot masters championships in Lausanne

Pictures courtesy Marcel Turrian.

Stanislav Zabrodski won the 1989 World Archery Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. Twenty-nine years later, Stan will return to that very same city to compete in the first World Archery Masters Championships.

“I do not know yet what I will feel when I come to this beautiful and cosy city. I think it will be some slight excitement and nostalgia about the past days when I was here for the fist time,” he said. 

Men’s individual gold medallist in 1989, Stan also set four world records during those championships and won the team world title with the Soviet Union.

“I remember that I felt very light when I was shooting and I had a feeling to win. I remember how I shot almost every end, and how we became champions in the team competition with Vladimir Esheev and Vadim Shikarev,” he said.

“I also remember how we walked around the city, alongside the beautiful lake with such ‘record’ weather.”

Esheev, who will compete at the masters as well, was an Olympic bronze medallist in 1988 and currently serves as president of the Russian Archery Federation.

Following his world title in 1989, Zabrodski went on to compete at four Olympic Games (1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004) for the Unified Team, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

He won a bronze medal at the 1993 World Archery Championships as part of the Ukrainian delegation.

After his last Olympic appearance, Stan stopped shooting and began coaching the Russian national team, where he remains part of the team’s staff. He began training for the upcoming masters tournament just a few weeks ago.

“I think the World Archery Masters Championships is a wonderful idea. I could not miss such a great opportunity to meet with my old friends, such strong rivals, and with those archers it was always very interesting to shoot,” he said.

The 1989 World Archery Championships took place in July at the Chavannes sports complex. The 2018 World Archery Masters Championships take place in August at three venues across the city.

The World Archery Excellence Centre will host indoor and recurve outdoor events, with the compound competition taking place at the Lausanne club’s field at Vidy. Field archery will be hosted at Montheron, in the north of the city.

This will be the Excellence Centre’s first international championships.

Zabrodski is one of at least six past world championship medallists attending the tournament; others include Jose Ignacio Catalan, Rick Stonebraker, Olga Rogova, Tatyana Muntyan and Yuri Leontiev.

There are also seven Olympians on the entry list, including Vladimir Esheev (1980, 1988 individual bronze), Deborah Lynn Ochs (1988 team bronze), Juan Carlos Echavarria (1984), Sylvia Harris (1992), Vedat Erbay (1988, 1992) and Nathalie Dielen (2008, 2012).

The first World Archery Masters Championships take place on 14-18 August 2018 in Lausanne, Switzerland.