Hansen had won bronze with the Danish compound men’s team during the morning session on Saturday in Copenhagen. He missed the 10-ring just once in his eight arrows in that match, something of a good omen.
On his way to the gold medal match, Stephan Hansen beat no less than previous World Champion Mike Schloesser in a shoot-off, maybe another sign of destiny.
Perhaps interesting to note is that the two previous senior World Champions were still juniors when they were crowned – Canada’s Christopher Perkins in 2011 and Schloesser in 2013. Another third premonition?
Hansen still had to pass by Rajat Chauhan, 2014 Asian Games Champion in the team event and fifth at the Archery World Cup Final in Lausanne the same year. The Indian has been one of the most consistent archers on the international circuit.
Home favourite versus a huge nation’s expectations… and a fierce match it turned out to be.
Each archer shot 29 out of 30 points in the first two ends for a tie at 58-58. Hansen confessed after the match that he felt his nerves during those first two ends with family and friends watching on but, by the third, they had been comfortably settled. He scored a perfect end of 30, while his opponent showed the only weakness of the game, shooting his only arrow out of the gold – an eight.
That gave a three-point lead to the young Dane, crowned the Prince of Denmark, who could cruise to victory with just three shots out of the 10-ring in the whole match. Final score: 147-143.
After three youth world titles in a row – the latest one at Yankton in June – the protege of Danish archery added the senior world crown aged just 20.
Stephan, his coach, family, friends, and the whole crowd roared, celebrating their new Champion of the World!
“This is unbelievable! I have never felt anything like this before,” gushed Hansen. “I’m so happy about it. A lot of people expected me to win. I got over my nerves and did it!”
In front of the Danish Parliament, a Danish athlete winning the world title could not have been more fitting.
The bronze medal match saw Great Britain’s Adam Ravenscroft and Colombia’s Camilo Cardona in their first appearance in a world championships medal match, although the latter is not unknown from the podiums.
Cardona won the mixed team world title at Belek 2013 and at the youth worlds in Yankton in 2015 – both with Sara Lopez, who had clinched individual bronze just two matches prior in Copenhagen.
Cheered on by the entire British team singing an alternate version of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, Adam took a two-point lead after three arrows and doubled his advantage after six.
The third end was his lowest of the match with 27 – he’d shoot 29 in all four others – and let his opponent regain some confidence. Cardona came back at only two points down, 85-83.
But with all 15 arrows in the gold rings, Ravenscroft proved the most consistent. He never let Cardona get in front and clinched bronze at just his second appearance at the World Archery Championships.
Ninth individually two years ago in Turkey, the medal in Copenhagen is, at age 33, by far the highlight of Adam’s international career since his international debut in 2012.
