After one stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in 2018, four athletes have already qualified for the circuit final. Korea’s Kim Woojin, Chang Hye Jin and Kim Jongho have Samsun places, as does Sara Lopez of Colombia.
Up to four more automatic places are up for grabs at stage two, under the new win-and-in rule for this season. Points still matter, too – and consistent finishers will be rewarded when the last spots for the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final are awarded after Berlin.
And before you ask – yes, the schedule is unusual and correct. Compound finals at Antalya 2018 run on Friday, with recurve following on Saturday.
Before the teams hit the heat of the Turkish coast, here’s hoping that someone matches the fire that Chang lit at stage one…
Factsheet: Antalya 2018
- Venues: Antalya archery field (qualification and eliminations) and Baki beach (finals), Antalya, Turkey
- Dates: 20-26 May
- Number of athletes: 361 (212 recurve, 149 compound) from 48 countries
- Where to watch: Live on World Archery’s YouTube and Facebook (except USA), Olympic Channel; live or delayed highlights on NBC Olympic Channel (USA), Eurosport, Claro (Mexico and Colombia), Sky (New Zealand), Astro (Malaysia) and more (check local listings)
Defending stage winners
Individual: Jean-Charles Valladont, France; Ksenia Perova, Russia; Chen Hsiang-Hsuan, Chinese Taipei; Sarah Sonnichsen, Denmark
Team: recurve men – Italy, women – Chinese Taipei, mixed – Chinese Taipei; compound men – Denmark, women – Denmark, mixed – Denmark
Schedule
- Monday 21 May: Qualification rounds
- Tuesday 22 May: First/second round eliminations
- Wednesday 23 May: Individual and team eliminations
- Thursday 24 May: Mixed team eliminations
- Friday 25 May: Compound finals
- Saturday 26 May: Recurve finals
5 storylines you should know
1. Sitting pretty with Samsun ticket. Kim, Kim, Chang and Lopez all qualified for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final by winning stage one in Shanghai.
All but Lopez return for stage two in Antalya – and really have nothing to lose at this event. If any of them wins a second leg, though – it will deny another archer that automatic invitation to Samsun.
2. Lopez inactive in Antalya. Talking of Lopez: after another win in Shanghai under her belt and back to number one in the world rankings, and she’s giving Antalya a miss to do some schoolwork. With world number two Sarah Sonnichsen recently not at her best, this event is prime for a shake-up in the compound women’s rankings.
Can Song Yun Soo or Yesim Bostan or someone entirely different take advantage?
3. Indonesia fields full team. For the second consecutive event in a row in 2018, a full 16-athlete Indonesian squad will board the plane. Seemingly taking this Asian Games year particularly seriously, the team will be keen to improve on the one bronze performance from Shanghai – and are poised to do so.
4. One to welcome back, one to miss. It’s a big ‘welcome back’ to Ane Marcelle Dos Santos, Brazil’s highest finisher in the archery competition at the nation’s home Olympics in Rio. We haven’t seen her shoot internationally since.
Meanwhile, China’s An Qixuan, who finished second in her international debut at home in Shanghai, hasn’t travelled with the team to Antalya.
5. Watch out for Thomas Chirault. So far in 2018, French 20-year-old Chirault is averaging 9.30 points per arrow in competition; that’s better than all but six of the recurve men shooting in Antalya and a 0.3-points-per-arrow improvement on 2017. (Kim Woojin leads with 9.56, 0.1 more than the next archer this season.)
Chirault finished eighth at stage one in Shanghai, fourth in Antalya in 2017, and is statistically trending very much upwards.
Weather forecast
Mid-30s with a chance of people roasting in the sun during the competition week this year in Antalya. It’ll likely bring world-record weather in the mornings, with the wind picking up as the air heats as the day progresses. Sunblock advised.
Forecast via AccuWeather.
The second stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Antalya, Turkey on 20-26 May.
