Anders Faugstad into Lockdown Knockout final after semifinal win over Schloesser
Top seed Anders Faugstad of Norway shot 149 out of a possible 150 points to beat Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands by two and secure his place in the final of the Lockdown Knockout, the first international remote archery tournament.
“It was really cool. It’s a really good target, so it’s kind of a shame that I had that one nine,” said Faugstad. “It was an awesome match and Mike shot really good.”
Faugstad opened the match with a perfect 30 points. Schloesser wasn’t as settled, missing the 10-ring twice and hitting a 28. It put the Dutchman in an early hole.
The 20-year-old Norwegian world youth champion was near perfect for the duration. His lone blemish came on the fifth arrow. He held for a long time, then ripped his hinge release to send the arrow downrange. It hit the bottom of the nine, bleeding into the red eight-ring.
Schloesser used the opportunity to recover a point and was only trailing by one after six arrows.
Anders didn’t drop another point. Mike did, exclaiming ‘no’ after a quick 11th arrow landed barely a millimetre below the 10-ring in the top face of the triple-spot target. It put his opponent back in a two-point lead, 119-117, heading into the final end.
“The wind got me, and it was just like less than a millimetre out,” Schloesser said afterwards. In a bold move, Mister Perfect chose to shoot his match outdoors despite some blustering winds. Anders is competing from an indoor range.
Three-discipline world champion Mike finished with a perfect 30 but so did Anders.
The latter added this 149-point 15-arrow match to an already impressive record in the Lockdown Knockout, which saw him shoot 596 points for qualifying and a first-round match of 148.
“It was just not my day, I felt good and shot really good, I’m happy about that and Anders shot even better than me, so he definitely deserves the win,” said Mike.
Faugstad admitted to feeling the nerves before going live.
“I know he can shoot 150 if he has the day and as he said, it’s a little bit windy where he is,” he said. “Since he shoots outdoors, there are a lot more factors going into shooting, but it was just a really fun match.”
Reigning World Archery Youth Champion Anders will face either Sara Lopez or Paige Pearce in the final.
The two women remaining in this competition, who are also ranked numbers two and three in the world, will shoot their semifinal at 17h00 CET (Lausanne time) on Friday 15 May.
The Lockdown Knockout is the first remote international event being streamed live across World Archery’s digital platforms.
