Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist JC Valladont, shooting at his home club, beat London 2012 Olympic Champion Oh Jin Hyek to recurve men’s gold at the third stage of the 2016/17 Indoor Archery World Cup in Nimes, France in five sets, 6-4.
“There is always pressure in finals but with my experience, the pressure is transformed into motivation,” said Valladont. “I play with that pressure and I like it.”
“I already won this tournament, here at my club, in 2009. I’ve been shooting again only for three weeks – and I didn’t come for the win. My technique was very clean and if I am in a final, it’s on the merit of my shooting.”
The match started in incredible style. Both Valladont and Oh shot eight consecutive 10s each before the top Korean posted a nine, wide right. Valladont stayed perfect another set, but strayed out of the centre ring in the next series, while Oh dialled back in – and the match was levelled at four set points apiece.
In the fifth, Valladont posted three 10s, Oh started with a 10 and a nine – and the match was over with a shot to spare.
“I know many of the people in the crowd. I wanted to perform for them and it is magical to share this moment with my club mates, spectators and the volunteers that support me,” Valladont added.
Oh Jin Hyek also finished second in Nimes in 2015.
Brady Ellison beat first-time finalist Tom Hall to the recurve men’s bronze medal, 7-1. The recurve women’s win went to Claudia Mandia over Korea’s Jin Yun, while Naomi Folkard took bronze.
Denmark was three for three in compound finals on the event. Reigning World Archery Champion Stephan Hansen cleanly beat the winner of the worlds in 2001, Dejan Sitar, in the men’s final, finishing with a three-10 end to settle the match 148-145. Tanja Jensen took compound women’s gold ahead of Natalia Avdeeva – and Sarah Sonnichsen won the bronze medal match against Mariia Vinogradova.
A second French archer climbed the Nimes podium.
Jean Philippe Boulch and Dave Cousins were tied at 145 points after the regulation 15 arrows in the compound men’s bronze final. Both shot a 10 in the tiebreaker, and the judge had to break out the callipers to measure each shaft’s distance from the centre of the target.
Boulch’s was deemed closer and took the medal.
The Indoor Archery World Cup concludes in Las Vegas in the second week of February, with the first two days of The Vegas Shoot acting as stage four – and the head-to-head finals taking place in the evening of the second day.
The third stage of the 2016/17 Indoor Archery World Cup ran 20-22 January 2017 in Nimes, France.
