Sara Lopez back on top after battling and beating Berlin wind

Colombia’s Sara Lopez is back in command of the compound women’s field after scoring 687 out of a possible 720 points over the 50-metre 72-arrow ranking round to seed first at the fourth stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Berlin, Germany.

“To be honest, what I had in my mind all the time was to not punch,” said Sara. “Even when the round was awfully windy, I wanted to do it well because I’m coming back from an anxiety episode that I had at the worlds.”

“I’ve been working on it over the last two weeks and I will still do it until the Pan American Games, which is the next important event for me.”

Online weather reports had winds of up to 25km/h during the compound qualification rounds. The scores were unusually low – not just at the top – but for all 42 women competing in Berlin.

“I’m still happy because as I had ends of 51, I also had ends of 60 when the wind was steady,” said Sara. “That made me realise that when I shoot correctly, the arrows land well no matter the wind.”

Lopez came in nine points up on second seed Yesim Bostan of Turkey, who totalled 678.

“It was really hard. I’m actually feeling a little bit tired because the whole qualification was windy and long,” said Yesim. “Our training field in Turkey has a similar wind, so I tried to remember what I usually do and tried to get the best of it.”

Bostan finished second in Berlin in 2017 and fourth here last season. She’s looking to make the medal matches for a third consecutive year.

Sophie Dodemont was the winner of this stage in 2018 and seeded third this time with 671 points. She said she was happy considering the complicated conditions.

Alexis Ruiz, Tanja Jensen, Viktoria Balzhanova, Sanne de Laat and Toja Ellison completed the top eight.

Lopez and Colombian teammate Daniel Munoz ranked top in the compound mixed team competition, ahead of Turkey and the USA. The top three compound women’s teams over qualification were the USA, Netherlands and Great Britain.

The fourth stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place on 1-7 July in Berlin, Germany.