Kang Chae Young completes Medellin triple gold with individual title

Kang Chae Young of Korea won the recurve women’s gold medal at the first stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Medellin, beating France’s Melanie Gaubil in the final in straight sets.

“All archers are focused on winning gold at the world championships,” said Chae Young. “But I have to concentrate on each competition, the next one in Shanghai, before thinking about anything else.”

The 22-year-old, who is the current world record holder for the ranking round, booked the first automatic qualification spot for this season’s Hyundai Archery World Cup Final with the victory.

She shot sets of 29, 28 and 28 points, never giving her opponent a chance.

Gaubil, making her individual debut in an international medal match, needed time to settle in. She shot two reds in each of the first two sets – but seemed to have settle by the third.

She could only put together a set score of 27, though, and the match was already over.

Kang Chae Young won three gold medals in Medellin, in the individual, mixed team and team events. The last time she did that? Her debut Hyundai Archery World Cup event in Shanghai in 2015. And Kang knew it.

“I got three golds in Shanghai and now, four years later, I have three again. I’m happy,” she said. 

The recurve women’s bronze medal match went the full five sets. 

Japan’s Sugimoto Tomomi’s last shot was a 10 – and her opponent Lan Lu didn’t have a measure called her way – and that was enough to secure the last spot on the podium.

The first stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup was held on 22-28 April in Medellin, Colombia.