The Brits had teams in both the junior and cadet bronze medal matches – and their support was loud.
The nation’s juniors had already knocked out heavy opponents – and higher seeds – Croatia and Turkey before coming up short to defending junior champs Colombia in the semis.
But no amount of chair banging, clapping and whopping could dig the British pair out of an early-end hole in the bronze final. After shooting two points less than the USA over the first two arrows, it was an uphill climb.
“When you’re on the line you’re in the zone,” said Chris Bee, shooting in red with Danielle Reynolds for the US.
Leading 37-35 after four arrows, the duo matched Great Britain point-for-point the rest of the way.
“It’s great to get a medal and get this tournament rolling. We have the cadets in the gold final as well, another guaranteed medal,” said Danielle.
The cadet gold medal match takes place on Saturday in Yankton.
The British mixed team shooting in the cadet bronze final was made up of two athletes from the same club. Lucy Mason and James Howse, both members of Deer Park club, were leading South Africa even before their opponents dropped a miss in the third end.
It translated into an 11-point margin for Lucy and James, and bronze.
At her first worlds, Lucy gushed about taking a podium: “To win it with James, too, is amazing. I’ve known him and been shooting with him for about five years.”
Despite that familiarity, James admitted they’d never shot the mixed team round together before the event in Yankton – but it might be something they practice in future!
The USA picked up a second medal of the day in the cadet recurve event, ahead of a Brazilian pair featuring Youth Olympic Games runner-up Marcus D’Almeida.
He and Alice Cabral Guimaraes struggled to find consistency in the blustering South Dakotan winds.
Still, Brazil drew the match at 3-3 and set up a set-win, bronze-win situation in the final regulation set. Both teams put arrows in the six, but Ryan Oliver and Eliana Claps found the middle more often.
A 34-32 final set put the States 5-3 ahead an into the medal spot.
Eliana relished the chance to prove her mettle.
“I had kind of a rough tournament a couple of months ago,” she explained. “It was just great to be back in it, show my heart was in it, show that my hard work was paying off and – now – my dreams are paying off!”
France beat Ukraine to the third spot in the recurve junior mixed team competition.
The French pair started strong, with a sweet 39-point set, before dropping just the second and winning the back two.
“We finished fourth two weeks ago at the European Junior Cup in Austria,” said tall Thomas Koenig. “This is so awesome!”
