Brady’s back on top: ELLISON is Archery World Cup Final Champion a third time

His first-round match at Lausanne 2014 was a tough one. Against Olympic and defending World cup Final Champion OH Jin Hyek, Brady was quickly 4-0 down in set points. But the Edinburgh and Istanbul World Cup Final Champion recovered and leveled the match at 4-all.

The pair split the last set, 28 points apiece – and it went to a shoot-off.

Brady’s 10 was better.

He took five sets to beat Rick VAN DER VEN – the Dutch archer who came fourth at London 2012 – in the semifinals. They drew four out of five sets, with America ELLISON’s lone 30 making the difference.

It put him into a final against Marcus DALMEIDA, the youngest ever athlete to qualify for the Archery World Cup Final and second seeded recurve man at Lausanne. Marcus had not lost a set in two matches: the only archer with that record heading into the gold finals.

Marcus started with an eight, then followed 10, 10, to draw the first set – then won the second. Brady won the third, then they split the fourth. Four all.

The last regulation set: two nines and a 10 for Marcus – the same for Brady, although one of his nines was a linecutter. It wasn’t upgraded, though: shootoff.

One arrow to decide the recurve men’s title at the 2014 Archery World Cup Final.

Marcus shot first. Marcus shot a nine.

Brady shot next: nine… but closer.

“I wanted to remind everyone that I’m still around and I’m still a threat,” said Brady. “It’s been too long since I won a tournament.”

“Don’t forget about me.”

We won’t. Brady’s back on top: Edinburgh, Istanbul and Lausanne World Cup Final Champion. The only archer in history to win three titles on the circuit.

Rick VAN DER VEN won the bronze medal with three sweet 10s. Drawn with Germany’s Florian KAHLLUND, the Dutch Wroclaw stage winner upped his game and drilled a perfect 30.

Back during the Antalya stage, KAHLLUND had problems with the rest on his number one bow during the gold medal match. He switched to his second and won a shoot-off for the stage win. The same thing happened during his semifinal in Lausanne.

“I broke my arrow rest,” again. “I switched to my second expecting to shoot better, but I shot an eight.”

Tough breaks for the young German.

World Cup Finalists decided and with two years to go until the Rio Games, it is Marcus DALMEIDA’s silver medal that will garner the wider attention. Marcus’ coach summed the 16-year-old’s season up in two perfect words: “mission accomplished”.

Mission accomplished, for this season…

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