The blistering heat beating down on the Wroclaw arena was reaching its peak as the compound women took to the field to resolve their medal matches.
“Beautiful day,” said Alejandra Usquiano, the Colombian perhaps more used to the heat than most, who was to take to the field against Russia’s Natalia Avdeeva. “I have to admit, I was a little bit nervous. I haven’t been in a final so far this year.”
Usquiano won the Archery World Cup Final in Paris in 2013 and qualified for Lausanne 2014, but had not had such a successful start to the 2015 season. Natalia Avdeeva was bronze medallist in Lausanne.
“I started off with an eight, but the adjustment was easy,” explained Avdeeva. “Wind is normal; in the region I live it is windy all the time. It’s not a problem for me.”
Both Natalia and Alejandra began with a 28 – no difference over the first end.
Whether it was the nerves, or the slight wind Avdeeva mentioned, Usquiano couldn’t settle in the second. She put one arrow out into the eight and didn’t find the middle.
Avdeeva only improved.
She shot 29s three ends in a row, then closed with a perfect 30 – for a 145 15-arrow total. Usquiano shot 29 in the third, but hadn’t found her groove over the back straight, dropping six points in six arrows. Even if she’d cleaned the run, she wouldn’t have been able to catch her opponent.
It meant a second individual gold medal on the Archery World Cup circuit, after Antalya 2014, for the Russian athlete – but that wasn’t Avdeeva’s focus.
“It’s pretty sure for the World Cup Final. I had fifth place in Shanghai, Antalya wasn’t so good, so here was the last chance. I hoped to come and get a medal.”
The win put Avdeeva up to second in the Archery World Cup rankings on the year – which, while not putting her 100 percent confirmed for the final, makes things all but certain – but it was the bronze medal match that had direct qualification implications.
Linda Ochoa beat the USA’s Crystal Gauvin by a point, 142-141, and became the first athlete to be locked in for an invitation to Mexico City 2015. After three stages, Linda has 44 ranking points – and mathematically cannot be knocked out of contention.
She previously competed at the World Cup Finals in Lausanne in 2014 and Edinburgh in 2010.
“I came here looking for those points,” she said. “As soon as I got to the semis, I said ‘good job!’ Then, of course, I wanted to win this medal, too.”
Mission accomplished, and a second podium finish on the year on the Archery World Cup circuit after bringing home silver in Shanghai.
