Seeded 11th, Sebastien Peineau beat his first two opponents – Demir Elmaagacli from Turkey and Federico Pagnoni from Italy – in both the second and third rounds, by just one point.
In the quarters, he beat reigning Archery World Cup Final Champion Bridger Deaton, to meet Reo Wilde in the semis – a match he also won by one point.
With these results, Sebastien qualified for his second Archery World Cup Final in a row, after finishing sixth at Lausanne 2014. Something, said Seb, gave him the experience to understand how to manage the nerves that this type of competition brings.
In Medellin, he shot for gold against Roberto Hernandez from El Salvador, who had qualified for his first gold medal match in a career spanning 10 years.
“I was more nervous than I was in Shanghai against Mike Schloesser,” admitted Seb. Peineau beat Mister Perfect in a shoot-off at the first stage of the season.
“I was stressed and shot some nines, but then I relaxed, I was engaged with all my arrows and I when I thought I needed to shoot the centre, I did.”
Sebastien started the match with a perfect 10,10,10. Roberto was close with a 29 point-set. The lead inverted three arrows later – then the pair was drawn after nine, and 12.
Roberto started the last set with a 10X. Seb with 10. It was Roberto’s second shot – which landed in the eight – that lost him any momentum. Seb had put in another 10.
Roberto finished with a perfect arrow – but so did Seb: A perfect 30 to finish the match in fitting style.
“I was nervous and I shot that arrow when the wind picked up a bit,” said a disappointed Roberto. “All my arrows but that one were good.”
Friends on- and off-field, Sebastien had only compliments about Roberto.
“I’m very happy for him. I still remember my first gold medal match and I can understand his feeling. He did great for himself and El Salvador,” the Frenchman said.
The bronze medal match was between the USA’s Reo Wilde and the reigning World Archery Champion from Denmark, Stephan Hansen.
Reo shot a perfect 30-point score in all but one end. The veteran, who qualified for his sixth Archery World Cup Final in 2015, said it felt good to shoot well in a finals venue.
“It’s been a couple of times I haven’t shot as well as I like,” he said. “Competing against Stephan was kind of bittersweet because I didn’t get to compete in the world championships that he won.”
