Sara Lopez opens Hyundai Archery World Cup season with home gold medal match

Colombia’s Sara Lopez will shoot for gold at her home stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Medellin. She’ll face Dutchwoman Jody Vermeulen.

“It was something I had in mind from the beginning, to open this World Cup in Medellin this way,” said Sara. “I know there’s still a long year ahead, but I promised my family that I would make the finals.”

Lopez has been to the gold medal match at a stage of the circuit 11 times. She’s won nine of those - the only two losses both coming in 2014.

She led the compound women’s ranking round in Medellin this season with 713 points, then beat Italy’s Marcella Tonioli, Ana Mendoza of Venezuela and Tanja Jensen from Denmark to bring her Hyundai Archery World Cup stage final career total to 12.

Vermeulen, on the other hand, dispatched Charlene Goddard of Barbados, Colombia’s Alexandra Sandino, second-seeded Toja Ellison of Slovenia, and Alexis Ruiz of the USA in the eliminations.

The silver medallist of last year’s stage in Berlin called her ticket to the final unexpected.

“I’m excited,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the final. I made some changes yesterday together with Peter Elzinga and I think it worked out pretty well.”

Tanja Jensen and Alexis Ruiz will contest the compound women’s bronze medal in Medellin.

The compound men’s final will see world number one Mike Schloesser clash for gold against the USA’s Braden Gellenthien, who won three consecutive shoot-offs before landing a perfect 150-point score in the semifinals.

“The competition is just getting stronger and stronger every event. I got a little lucky to get into a shoot-off in my first match but at that point it was a real turn in my day,” said Gellenthien.

“I decided that I was going to shoot perfect shots the rest of the day a be really aggressive and take whatever I could because I felt like I was given a second chance.”

Schloesser shot two perfect 150s in his first two matches, followed them up with a pair of 149s and only dropped two points all morning.

“Really good shots, really good high scores. I’m really happy with how I shot today, especially mentally,” said Mike. “I know my shooting is good but just my mental game was off – last year it was not that strong but this year I’ve been feeling good with it.”

Tate Morgan and Jean Philippe Boulch will shoot for bronze this Saturday.

Competition at the first stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Medellin, Colombia runs until Sunday 28 April.