Gator Cup concludes delayed USA tournament season

Picture via USA Archery.

The qualifier series for the USA team concluded on Sunday 9 November with the completion of the Easton Foundations Gator Cup in Florida, the final major outdoor event of the calendar year in the States.

Archers earn ranking points at qualifier events. The archers who have accrued the highest number of ranking points at the end of the season are named to the national squad and earn the right to wear national colours. Although there are additional trials for specific events, the system ensures that even experienced international archers remain active in domestic events.

Jack Williams, Catalina Gnoriega, Cole Frederick and Savannah Vanderwier took the individual titles at the Gator Cup.

The result seems likely to push Williams to the top of the team rankings and give the USA a new leader in the recurve men’s category for the first time in an age, replacing reigning World Archery Champion Brady Ellison.

Domestic competition in the USA is scheduled to resume with the Arizona Cup in April and Gator Cup, back in its normal calendar slot, in May 2021.

The country’s trials for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are set to continue from where they were paused in mid-2019. Ellison and Casey Kaufhold currently lead the selection process. The USA has two spots – one man and one woman – currently qualified to the Olympics and will attempt to augment this quota at the final qualification tournament in Paris next June.