The 10th Archery World Cup Final, back in the country of the very first edition of the tournament, lands in Mexico City on 24/25 October. Ahead of competition, we asked five archery experts to give us their tips for the gold medal winners at the event.
George Tekmitchov
Engineering and marketing, Hoyt archery
Picks: A Korean recurve man and woman, Martin Damsbo and Linda Ochoa
The recurve men’s and women’s categories are going to Koreans. The question is, simply, which ones?
“El Abuelo”, Luis Alvarez, may podium if the crowd momentum carries him past the first match. Brady Ellison will be in the hunt in the men’s competition, too – and look for a podium from Japan’s Kawanaka Kaori if she survives the first pass.
If Martin Damsbo can handle the heat, he will podium in the compound competition. The surprise might be India’s Abhishek Verma.
Linda Ochoa has everything needed to win the compound women’s title, but expect Colombia – via either Sara Lopez or Alejandra Usquiano, up against each other in the quarters – to make its mark.
Juan-Carlos Holgado
World Archery Excellence Centre Director
Winner picks: Lee Seungyun, Deepika Kumari, Reo Wilde and Sara Lopez
Korean world champion in 2013 Seungyun, is very talented in matchplay, proved by his high percentage won. He likes the tension and I’ve seen him shoot strong in recent events.
Collin Klimitchek might be his primary challenger – as the rising star of the season.
In her return to the World Cup stage, Kumari wants to show everyone she is still someone to be figured into competition. She’s preparing for Rio 2016 and every top event is a chance to show her best ahead of the Games. At the end of the day, the talent is there.
She’s not the only comeback story, though. Ki Bo Bae is a real fighter who wants to be on top. The Korean Olympic and World Champion is hungry for victories and glory – and, of course, she has one of the nicest-looking and most technically efficient shooting forms around.
The compound titles are Reo Wilde and Sara Lopez’s to lose. Wilde wants to show everyone he should have taken the worlds, while Lopez has been on fire this season, breaking record after record. Neither will have much jetlag, coming from the same or near time zone!
Sjef van den Berg
International athlete, Netherlands
Winner picks: Kim Woojin, Choi Misun, Mike Schloesser and Sara Lopez
Out of the recurve men, I predict the koreans to show class again. They have pretty much always been the guys to beat and it will not be any different this time. Kim Woojin is on fire this year and he has a good shot on winning this one… though Brady Ellison is a World Cup Final veteran, so he has a good chance of going home with metal around his neck.
Deepika Kumari has had a good year and, above that, a good comeback. If she can keep on that track, she’s probably going to finish well. My prediction is for Korea, they’re a tough bunch and they’re going to shoot a whole lot of 10s.
Watch out for Mackenzie Brown, though! She’s relatively new to the scene, but has had some great results.
I’m a bit biased in the compound men’s competition, I’ll admit. My favourite is, unsurpisingly, Mr Perfect Mike Schloesser. He shot well throughout the way and managed a few podiums.
It has to be said, though, that winning a compound men’s final is never easy and this one won’t be either. I suspect Reo Wilde and Martin Damsbo, being as experienced as they are, will give their best shots, too.
There is one compound women’s name that jumps out for me. Defending World Cup Champion from Lausanne, Sara Lopez has a list of accomplishments that keeps growing longer and longer.
Her chances are good but, that said, she has strong opponents in Linda Ochoa and Crystal Gauvin who are great archers, too.
John Stanley
The Infinite Curve
Winner picks: Collin Klimitchek, Ki Bo Bae, Seb Peineau and Sara Lopez
It’s tricky to see past Sara Lopez in the compound women’s competition. She has shown ferocious form, destroyed the field on home turf last month, and her first match is against Alejandra Usquiano, who – over the season – hasn’t looked much like the Alejandra Usquiano who took the World Cup Final title in 2013.
Either Andrea Marcos or Stephanie Salinas could easily surprise Lopez in the semis, though.
Having said all that, I’m going to pick Crystal Gauvin and Natalia Avdeeva to make the semifinal at least, and one of them could spring something special and take the whole thing.
Similarly, the compound men’s is wide open, a field absolutely bursting with both experience and form. I like Seb Peineau here. He seems to be aggressively on point, and with two individual stage victories on the year, is clearly in winning mode - if he can get past Reo Wilde, which he is more than capable of doing.
It should be a smoking hot set of matches.
In the recurve women’s event, Choi Misun should have what it takes to get past Alejandra Valencia, but the Mexican has a habit of surprising Koreans and might just pull it off at home. Mackenzie Brown has lit a serious fuse this year, and could contest a final. But for the overall title, as usual, it’s Ki Bo Bae’s to lose. She doesn’t turn up to take part.
There are lots of interesting quarterfinal matches in the recurve men. Ellison versus Klimitchek, I would say, is too close to call based on the matches I’ve seen this year. We all know about Brady’s record out here but Collin has looked incredibly strong and capable of anything. He’s my pick.
Still, the chances of an all-Korean final are high. Kim Woojin is very likely the greatest male recurve archer in the world right now. He’ll probably win easily, look a bit quizzical, and that’ll be that.
Teresa Johnson
Archery 360
I’m watching Mackenzie Brown closely in the recurve women’s division. She’s been training hard after just missing the World Championships and Pan Am teams earlier this year, and she’s been unstoppable since youth worlds in June. I think she’s now developed confidence and is beginning to see her full potential, which makes her just a little fearless in a field of veterans.
I’d also expect good things out of the Korean women. Choi has been sitting in Ki’s shadow a bit this year, and I think she could be a solid dark horse pick for the gold.
On the compound men’s side, I think we could see Peineau, Wilde, Schloesser and Damsbo in the final four. After missing a shot at the world title earlier this year, Wilde is fired up and determined to finish out strong.
I think despite the considerable talent in this division, you have three confident archers in Peineau, Schloesser and Damsbo (who's been just a bit quieter in 2015). Schloesser has youth and fearlessness on his side; Peineau has been gaining confidence since last indoor season, and Damsbo is just an all-out rockstar when he's on his game.
I think they all have a shot at that title.
Get in on the action, tweet your predictions to @worldarchery and use the hashtag #MexArchery.
