World Cup Final qualifiers round-up: Two spaces left to decide in Berlin
Twenty-six of the 28 qualifier spaces at the Moscow 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final were decided by the end of the semifinals at the fourth stage of the international circuit in Berlin, Germany.
There’s a single spot in each of the recurve men’s and recurve women’s competitions left to confirm. The recurve women’s gold medal match is a win-and-in situation for two Korean archers. Kim Woojin, who isn’t shooting at this stage, needs reserve teammate Bae Jaehyeon to lose to Turkey’s Mete Gazoz to keep his place.
Russia will receive four spots, one in each competition category, to bring the total number of athletes in the Moscow line-up to 32. Here’s the roster with the finals at stage four left to shoot.
Recurve men
Stage winners: Brady Ellison, USA (Medellin, Antalya); Lee Woo Seok, Korea (Shanghai)
Points qualifiers: Sjef van den Berg, Netherlands; Mete Gazoz, Turkey; Mauro Nespoli, Italy; Steve Wijler, Netherlands
To decide: Kim Woojin, Korea or Bae Jaehyeon, Korea
If Bae Jaehyeon beats Mete Gazoz in the gold medal match in Berlin then he’ll go to the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final. If Mete wins, then Kim Woojin qualifies for Moscow on points.
Sjef won his space by making the third round, Mete had his at the end of the fourth and Mauro was booked when he made the semifinals.
In fact, it was Mauro beating Rick van der Ven in the quarterfinals that put Steve Wijler – who ended up tied with Rick on points but is higher in the tiebreaking world rankings – in the line-up.
This will be Gazoz’s second-consecutive final in Berlin and Moscow will be his second Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in a row.
“I think this field is much better for me than Antalya because I was third in Antalya but here I’m in the final again,” he said. Mete beat Lee Woo Seok to gold in Berlin with a near-perfect tiebreak arrow in 2018.
“It will be a good show again. I expect a good competition but this time I will try to finish the match before a shoot-off.”
Recurve women
Stage winners: Kang Chae Young, Korea (Medellin, Shanghai); Zheng Yichai, China (Antalya)
Points qualifiers: Tan Ya-Ting, Chinese Taipei; Tomomi Sugimoto, Japan; An Qixuan, China; Ksenia Perova, Russia
To decide: An San, Korea or Jeon Ina, Korea
Korean reserve team members An San and Jeon Ina face each other in the final at this fourth stage of the international circuit. The winner joins world number one teammate Kang Chae Young in Moscow.
“Throughout this competition, I’ve been hoping to make the finals and now I did. I think I will win,” said number-one seed An San.
Gold medal match opponent and number-seven seed Jeon Ina said: “It’s quite difficult to shoot the final against my teammate because we both want to win and we are both on the same side. I think I will win, too.”
Tan Ya-Ting and Tomomi Sugimoto – the latter of which wasn’t shooting in Berlin – accrued enough points over the first three stages to feel pretty safe about this tournament.
An Qixuan and Ksenia Perova were tied on ranking points arriving at stage four. An Qixuan made the bronze medal match; Ksenia Perova didn’t make the third round. Both qualified for Moscow on points.
The recurve women’s competition will be the only one at the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final with multiple athletes from Russia. The host country receives one spot and Perova’s place augments the number to two.
Compound men
Stage winners: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands (Medellin); Braden Gellenthien, USA (Shanghai); James Lutz, USA (Antalya)
Points qualifiers: Evren Cagiran, Turkey; Daniel Munoz, Colombia; Jozef Bosansky, Slovakia; Sergio Pagni, Italy
If Mike Schloesser wins his second stage of the year then Evren Cagiran will qualify on points. If Cagiran wins, he’ll take a winner’s space in Moscow. The line-up won’t change.
The big story here was whether James Lutz would keep his winner’s spot from Antalya. Kris Schaff made a good run at taking it away from him – but he needed to win and, after a poor last end, lost his semifinal to Evren Cagiran.
“I knew I needed to qualify to the [gold] final to go to the World Cup Final so, yes, it’s better than expected,” said Evren. “I’ve always shot against Mike early in the elimination rounds and I have always lost. Now we are finally meeting for gold.”
What about Jozef Bosansky?
He’s the first Slovakian archer to ever qualify for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final. And he’s done so off the back of consistent, top-eight finishes over the last two stages of the tour in Turkey and Germany.
Two-time Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion Sergio Pagni, shooting at the 50th stage of his career in Berlin, snuck in, too.
Compound women
Stage winners: Sara Lopez, Colombia (Medellin); So Chaewon, Korea (Shanghai); Danelle Wentzel, South Africa (Antalya)
Points qualifiers: Alexis Ruiz, USA; Toja Ellison, Slovenia; Tanja Jensen, Denmark; Sophie Dodemont, France
Like in the compound men’s competition, the final in Berlin is between two points qualifiers. Either Alexis Ruiz or Sophie Dodemont will end up taking a winner’s spot, instead, but the match won’t change the line-up.
It looked unlikely that Sophie would take a place in Moscow when she was trailing by two points after four ends of the semifinal. Her opponent, world number one Yesim Bostan, shot a six in the wind in the fifth.
That cost Bostan the place and handed it to Dodemont as she won the match, 142-141. In something of a repeat, Sophie also qualified for last year’s Hyundai Archery World Cup Final by placing well at the stage in Berlin. (She won.)
Toja Ellison’s top-eight placing accrued her enough points. And on her birthday, no less. Tanja Jensen held on.
The fourth stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place on 1-7 July in Berlin, Germany.
