Erika JONES increases world record to 595

“I have paid my dues to get this record,” said a grinning Erika JONES. “I’ve been flirting with it for many years. The first time I tied it was when I was 17 – so I’m really excited that today was the day.”

The double World Games gold medallist is on a three-tournament winning streak after picking up Indoor World Cup titles at Singapore, Telford and Las Vegas. Her form certainly held for today’s ranking round.

“The first half was really great,” an understatement for a commanding 299, “but I knew anything could happen in the second half – so I just tried to stay focused and do the best I could.”

“I actually didn’t know whether my second to last arrow was a 10 or a 9.” That 59th shot was really close, just touching the line in the end – but impossible to call from a shooting position. As far as JONES knew, she needed a strong 10 to finish and take the record by a point: “I just tried to stay focused and do the best I could.”

She shot a 10, the arrow before was also called in – and Erika JONES broke a world record that had stood for 13 years by two points – and claimed the top seed at the world championships.

The previous mark had been held by JONES’ USA teammate in Nimes, Christie COLIN. “We haven’t really talked about it – until now,” said Erika. “That’s been a really, really long-standing record.”

“I guess all the chips just fell together today.”

 

The World Archery Indoor Championships is underway in Nimes, France until 2 March 2014. Follow live scores, full results and World Archery’s coverage on Facebook and Twitter.