Four countries win junior gold medals in Val d’Isere

 The athletes shot on the same four targets as the team finals yesterday, but faced off against their competitors simulataneously. Each athlete had three minutes to shoot three arrows per target. There were 6 rings on each target (with potential of scoring 6 to 1; or 0 if they miss it).   All the targets were on the uphill slope from the shooting position. The first two targets were placed slightly on the left where the archers shot from, while the last two were on the right. The last two targets were the most difficult having more side effect and longer distances than the first two targets.
The targets were positioned up against the slope of the hill. The challenge was to “reduce” the aiming distance, but not too much. Depending on whether the bow was barebow, recurve, compound made each shot different.   Recurve Junior Men   Gold Medal Match: Marco MORELLO (ITA/1) v Jesper FREDRIKSSON (SWE/3) FREDRIKSSON of Sweden and MORELLO of Italy are two powerhouse of field archery. However, these countries have not won many medals so far in these championships. In this match, FREDRIKSSON brought the title to his country. Score evolution 12-11, 27-24, 41-33, 55-44.   Bronze Medal Match: Mark NESBITT (GBR/4) v Paul Andre HAGEN (NOR/2) NESBITT is an experienced archer in the junior division. He started with 5-4-5 for 14 points, while HAGEN scored a nice 6-5-6 to build an early lead 17-14. The Norwegian was really solid in this match and increased his lead with every target. He led 31-27, 47-43 to finally win the bronze medal 60-55.   Recurve Junior Women   Gold Medal Match: Mirjam TUOKKOLA (FIN) Marion VIVES (FRA) The match started well for both athletes. VIVES started with 5-5-4 and TUOKKOLA 5-4-4. On the second target, the Finnish archer shot 3-4-5 to reach 25 points, while the home crowd favourite, Marion, had 3-5-5 taking a 2-point lead (27).
The French favourite made the difference on a difficult third target shooting 4-4-4 to reach 39 points. TUOKKOLA only managed to get 33 points.
VIVES won on her countries soil in the last target shooting 5-5-4 to becoming the world champion with a score of 53-39!   Bronze Medal Match: Sandra VAN DER LOOY (NED) v Brina BOZIC (SLO) VAN DER LOOY showed confidence, shooting fast in the first two targets and scoring well: 4-4-4 and 3-5-5 for a total of 24. BOZIC used all the time she had and also managed to score 24 (4-4-3 and 4-5-4). On the third target, the Dutch archer took a 1-point lead shooting 4-3-4, while BOZIC had 3-3-4. In the last target, VAN DER LOOY shot again faster than BOZIC, getting 4-3-4 to reach 46 points. The Slovenian had to score at least 12 points in the end to tie the match, which the two archers had been shooting regularly on the targets during this match. BOZIC started well with a 5 and 4 but concluded with a 2, which left the bronze medal to her opponent.  Victory for VAN DER LOOY who won 46-45.   Compound Junior Men   Gold Medal Match: Alex BRIDGMAN (GBR/4) v Renaud DOMANSKI (BEL/2) BRIDGMAN is a well-known archer in the junior field division while Belgium always delivers some strong competitors like DOMANSKI. The Belgium competitor built a lead after two targets, 16-14, 30-27. He kept it at 46-43. He finished only with 4-5-4, but his opponent did 5-5-5 to fall one point short. DOMANSKI was crowned world champion winning 59-58.   Bronze Medal Match: Mario VAVRO (CRO) v Domagoj BUDEN (CRO) In the BUDEN family, here is the son (or the brother) Domagoj. It was an all-Croatian final. The high-level match started with VAVRO scoring a perfect 6-6-6 to take an 18-16 lead. Both archers continued to perform well with 6-5-4 for VAVRO and 6-5-6 for BUDEN who tied the match at 33-33 after the second target. On the last target they both shot 13 points to reach 46-46. Both athletes started with 5-5. It came down to the last arrow. BUDEN put pressure with a 5 very close to the 6 ring. VAVRO could only manage a 4. The BUDEN family brought yet another medal to Croatia.   Compound Junior Women   Gold Medal Match: Sabrina FRANZOI (ITA/4) v Maja ORLIC (CRO/2) Another  close match! The athletes traded ends of 14 and 15 in the first two targets. Then both shot 13 on the third. ORLIC finished with 4-4-5. FRANZOI brought a title to Italy scoring a strong 6-5-4 on the last target. FRANZOI won 57-55 earned the gold medal and world championship title.   Bronze Medal Match: Daisy CLARK (GBR/1) v Runa GRYDELAND (NOR/3) An amazing match between CLARK and GRYDELAND! The athletes shot extremely close throughout the whole match: 14-14, 29-29, 42-42. Both girls finished with a nice total of 16 points in the last end (4-6-6 and 5-5-6). The score was tied at 58-58 meaning a Shoot-off! With this sudden death round, the first shot from both athletes scored a 5. Usually the judge decides the winner by which arrow is closest to the centre, but in the bronze medal Match they were exactly at the same distance! The athletes shot a second arrow to determine the winner. CLARK shot a 4 and GRYDELAND a perfect 6 to win the bronze medal.   World Archery Communication