USA wins second World Cup compound women’s team title in a row
Cassidy Cox, Paige Pearce and Alexis Ruiz beat Russia by three points, 229-226, in Antalya to take the USA’s second consecutive compound women’s team title on the Hyundai Archery World Cup circuit in 2019.
“It felt really good. We’ll have the same team for the world championships, so I think this was really good practice for that,” said Cox. “I think we’ll shoot really well there, too. We’ve had three World Cup stages already and I think we’ve had a strong team at each one.”
The USA compound women won team silver at the first stage in Medellin, gold in Shanghai and a second gold here in Antalya.
A high-pressure match in blazing sunshine saw a series of minor errors from both teams, and the match was all tied at 114 points after 12 of the 24 regulation arrows.
In the third end, eights from Natalia Avdeeva and Alexandra Savenkova left the Russian team struggling. In the last, Adveeva seemed to have difficulties – twice flinching visibly on her final arrow, but still finding the nine.
Russia had recovered, but the USA finally hit top gear and had no trouble shooting a 58 to win by three clear points, 229-226.
The victory adds another gold to Ruiz’s astonishing haul on the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup circuit, which now stands at seven medals - with the individual final still to come in Antalya.
In the bronze medal match, Great Britain triumphed over India.
After a pair of 57s in the opening two ends, India faltered in the third to leave the Brits a point in front. The Indian team couldn’t recover, and Great Britain pulled away – finishing with a 30 – to take the last spot on the compound women’s team podium.
“India is a really good team, so it was nice to get a few points back and eventually win,” said Ella Gibson. “I think we were only sure right at the end of that match when we shot the three 10s. We thought we’d got our stuff together; we can do it if we shoot well.”
Gibson, Layla Annison and Lucy Mason shot three straight ends of 58 points to recover from a seven from Mason with her first arrow.
It was a resilient performance from the young team, who set two new junior world records during the week. The first was over the ranking round and the second came in their first match of the tournament.
“This team has been training together for a long time. They’re so experienced in these situations, through European and national events,” said coach Jon Nott. “I’ve got absolutely no doubt these girls can cope with the pressure.”
“If I thought different, I wouldn’t have picked them. They’re just brilliant. I’m proud of them.”
The third stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place on 20-26 May in Antalya, Turkey.
