Fullerton one 10 away from perfect score, whilst Doigo smashes field in recurve

The Vegas Shoot champion Mathias Fullerton shot nearly flawless to score 599 in gut wrenching fashion at the compound men qualifications in the Swiss Open, the opening stage of the Indoor World Series.

Mere weeks after winning silver in the 2024 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final, Denmark’s Fullerton looked as if he was on course to be the only archer at World Archery’s Excellence Centre in Lausanne to drop a perfect score of 600 but on his 60th and final arrow, the Dane dropped a nine.

“You always get a little more nervous coming in to the last end and you're clean," said the 21 year old who joined Nicolas Girard and Braden Gellenthien in scoring 599 as the compound men top three seeds with the latter's wife, Tanja Gellenthien, the top seed in the compound women field. "I've had some issues the last few months with basically just my mind, a little, not target panic, I would call it, but doubt in my mind. 

"I shot a Danish tournament last week and it was pretty bad, but this was much better. I'm fine with the score," he added.

Fullerton wasn’t the only athlete to top qualifications on Saturday’s morning session as last year’s Lausanne bronze medallist Alessandro Paoli of Italy shot 590 in recurve men, overcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Mete Gazoz’s effort of 589 who competed in the first qualification session on Friday.

The top seed in recurve women was Switzerland’s very own Olivia Doigo, an unlikely one to say the least.

Doigo smashed the rest of the field in her home country as she dropped a Swiss national record of 593, including a total of 15 perfect ends (three 30s) with Denisa Barankova and Reena Parnat the closest to her impressive score at 581.

The 17 year old opted to shoot in the senior category over the under-21s despite her age and having only made her international debut earlier this year in the European Olympic Qualifier. 

It proved to be a more than wise decision. 

“I was like, ‘Oh, maybe it's going to be better to shoot as a senior for get some points on the senior world ranking’ because I will not be competing much in other competitions,” said Doigo who said she can only compete in Lausanne this indoor season due to school. “For the last arrow, I disobeyed what my coach said. She told me to not think about the national record and I think about it, but after it went just in and I was like, ‘Oh, it went in.’ 

“I didn't realize until now that I got the national record, so it was pretty easy."

The Swiss Open, which also saw the Netherlands' Quinty Roeffen qualify as top seed in the recurve women under-21 for the second straight year, is one of six stages of the Indoor World Series before the finals in Las Vegas, USA.

The action continues this afternoon in the individual matches before the finals this evening which you can watch on archery+.

Top seeds: Swiss Open

• Recurve men: Alessandro Paoli, Italy – 590
• Recurve women: Olivia Doigo, Switzerland – 593
• Compound men: Braden Gellenthien, USA – 599
• Compound women: Tanja Gellenthien, Denmark – 592