Kaufhold banks first career win in Paris pairs event

Dreams came true for the USA’s 18-year-old Casey Kaufhold today as she won recurve mixed team gold at the third stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup with Brady Ellison. Chinese Taipei collected recurve women’s team gold and the Korean men finished top in their event.

“This is the first Hyundai Archery World Cup gold medal I’ve ever won,” said recurve women’s world number 11 Kaufhold. The USA defeated Spain’s Leyre Fernandez Infante and Miguel Alvarino Garcia, 5-1, in the mixed team final at the beautiful Chateau de Vincennes in Paris.

“[It was a] great match, a big deal for me and I’m happy to win it with Brady, I couldn’t be more happy. Other than individual eliminations, [this] is my favourite event. We do very well together, we always have a good time, always make each other laugh and do goofy stuff.”

The win is a step up from the pair’s silver at stage two in Gwangju last month and Ellison’s third medal in the competition in three events, following his bronze with Gabrielle Sasai in Antalya.

“We both have been in a lot of matches and I felt like I always kind of let her down, so it’s good to go out there and shoot good like today and do what I was supposed to do,” he said.

Leading 3-1 and with a chance to close out the match after Spain finished the third set with a seven, the US pair needed 19 points from its last two arrows. Brady shot a nine and Casey, having dropped an eight in the first rotation, delivered the perfect arrow they needed to win.

“She got the 10 she needed and she shot that eight on purpose so that way she could just shoot the 10 on the last arrow to win by herself,” joked Brady.

Dutch duo Gaby Schloesser and Rick van der Ven finished in third for the second consecutive stage.

Chinese Taipei’s Kuo Tzu Ying, Lei Chien-Ying and Peng Chia-Mao dispatched India in a clean recurve women’s team final, which ended 5-1. The Taipei squad had won bronze at Antalya at the season opener and placed fourth in Gwangju with Chiu Yi-Ching in the squad in place of Peng.

Peng returned in Paris to pick up her fifth Hyundai Archery World Cup team gold medal.

“It has been two years since we were in an international tournament,” said Peng. “It feels good to be in the international environment and we are very happy to get the gold medal.”

India had an alternative squad to that which won bronze in Gwangju, with Komalika Bari and Ridhi replaced by Simranjeet Kaur and the returning Deepika Kumari.

The Olympic Champion men’s trio of Kim Je Deok, Kim Woojin and Oh Jin Hyek swept aside the USA in straight sets with Lee Woo Seok to collect Korea’s second stage win in two appearances in 2022. Je Deok called his team “very strong” afterwards, explaining that the team “always thinks one arrow at a time and that’s why we are so good”.

Veteran Oh praised the young prodigy.

“He is just a wonderful young teammate and whether it was the world championships or the Olympics last year, these guys are really good teammates that I know I can rely on,” he said.

Competition concludes this afternoon in Paris with the recurve final fours.

Podiums: Paris 2022

Check full results on the World Archery website.

Recurve men’s team

1.  Korea (Kim Je Deok, Kim Woojin, Oh Jin Hyek)
2.  USA (Brady Ellison, Matthew Requa, Jack Williams)
3.  Turkey (Samet Ak, Mete Gazoz, Muhammed Yildirmis)

Recurve women’s team

1.  Chinese Taipei (Kuo Tzu Ying, Lei Chien-Ying, Peng Chia-Mao)
2.  India (Ankita Bhakat, Simranjeet Kaur, Deepika Kumari)
3.  Germany (Katharina Bauer, Michelle Kroppen, Charline Schwarz)

Recurve mixed team

1.  USA (Casey Kaufhold, Brady Ellison)
2.  Spain (Leyre Fernandez Infante, Miguel Alvarino Garcia)
3.  Netherlands (Gaby Schloesser, Rick van der Ven)