Cousins shoots first perfect round as Jonsson top barebow for second consecutive stage
Dave Cousins, the 1999 World Archery Champion, scored 600 out of a possible 600 points to record the first perfect score of the 2021 Indoor Archery World Series during its second remote stage this past weekend.
“I shot a great round, had a great day and was really in the groove,“ the American said. “Equipment was working flawlessly, and I hope to compete in the remainder of the events we have scheduled and see if we can’t all post up some big numbers.“
Only a handful of compound men have delivered a perfect 60-arrow, 18-metre round since Mike Schloesser shot the first 600 in Nimes in 2015.
This year’s combined live and remote indoor circuit might not inspire the same pressure as a normal event. But 60 consecutive arrows in the middle for score remains impressive no matter the circumstances.
“Yeah, it’s not a real competition, per se,“ Cousins said. “But it is bringing us together and keeping us shooting, and that’s what’s really important.“
Three of this month’s winning scores could have been ratified as new world records had they been posted at registered events.
Reigning Indoor Archery World Series Champion Wi Nayeon from Korea shot 596 to lead all recurve women. That score is one point more than the current world best, which is owned by her compatriot Ryoo Su Jung at 595.
Swedish couple Erik Jonsson and Lina Bjorklund recorded rounds of 577 and 554 points, respectively.
Jonsson’s 577, aside from being an astonishing total to hit with a barebow, is 11 up on the current men’s world record, while Bjorlund’s 554 is – likewise – 11 points higher than the women’s record.
“I’ve shot really well in practice the past three or four weeks. I’ve beaten my personal best twice,” Jonsson said. “I haven’t shot such high scores in maybe 15, 20 years. It’s quite amazing, actually.”
The five-time World Archery Field Champion revealed his practice best to be an astounding 589 points.
“But practice and competition are not the same,“ he added. “When you shoot in practice, you can shoot at your own pace and do whatever you want between the arrows, almost.“
Erika and Lina, who are engaged, intended to make this year their last on the national team. But with the World Archery Field Championships in Yankton delayed until 2022, a renewed interest in practice after a pandemic-induced break from archery and the ongoing growth of the barebow discipline – maybe they’ll stick around a little longer.
Jonsson, 44, is the only archer to win both the November and December remote stages.
Bayley Sargeant shot 595 points to win the compound women’s event, and reigning World Archery Champion Brady Ellison, who recently revealed an autumn ordeal stemming from a doping test, led over 1000 accepted scores in the recurve men’s competition with 598.
More than 5000 archers had registered to the second online stage of the 2021 Indoor Archery World Series. More than 3400 submitted results were accepted for the initial results list – although changes may be made for up to two weeks.
A small invitational was hosted at the World Archery Excellence Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland to coincide with the second stage of the remote circuit.
Quick links
- Results: December | Indoor Archery World Series Online
- Rankings: Open (recurve, compound and barebow)
- Rankings: Team (recurve and compound)
- Register for January: OpenWAREOS
Registered events
Archers participating in this unique format for the 2021 Indoor Archery World Series can compete remotely from their own clubs, ranges or even at home. Members of teams competing in the circuit must shoot at officially registered events – otherwise known as world-record status events.
These can be local tournaments but must be run to World Archery rules and endorsed by the relevant national archery federation.
Dutch archers on the Olympic team held one of these tournaments at their national training centre for the November stage. For the second month of the circuit, many more venues did the same – including the US facility in Chula Vista, where Ellison recorded his winning score in the recurve men’s competition.
“It’s really awesome to be shooting in an event like this,” Ellison said. “Obviously, normally we all go to one place, but going to these smaller events where we can still break world records, and you still have the judges, it still feels like a real tournament.”
“We had 1400 archers in our division – it’s crazy. The level of shooting is way higher in this thing than anything we’ve ever shot before.”
Ellison, who is also the current world number one, holds the recurve men’s 60-arrow, 18-metre ranking round world record at 599 points. He’s still chasing that perfect 600.
Small competitions held at his training centre – like the many others being run at clubs around the globe as part of this innovative format for the 2021 Indoor Archery World Series – give him a chance at hitting the perfect mark during this challenging season.
More information on how clubs can get involved and the rules for running a registered event can be found online.
Continental
Scoring for the second stage of the 2021 Indoor Archery World Series was split into three geographical areas: the Americas, Europe/Africa and Asia/Oceania. Here are the top scorers in each region.
Americas
- Recurve men: Brady Ellison, USA – 598 (top score)
- Recurve women: Aida Roman, Mexico – 588
- Compound men: Dave Cousins, USA – 600 (top score)
- Compound women: Linda Ochoa-Anderson, USA – 588
- Barebow men: Grayson Partlowe, USA – 573
- Barebow women: Christina Lyons, USA – 529
Europe/Africa
- Recurve men: Steve Wijler, Netherlands – 594
- Recurve women: Tatiana Andreoli, Italy – 592
- Compound men: Mike Schloesser, Netherlands – 599
- Compound women: Bayley Sargeant, Great Britain – 595 (top score)
- Barebow men: Erik Jonsson, Sweden – 577 (top score)
- Barebow women: Lina Bjorklund, Sweden – 554 (top score)
Asia/Oceania
- Recurve men: Oh Jin Hyek, Korea – 596
- Recurve women: Wi Nayeon, Korea – 596 (top score)
- Compound men: Riku van Tonder, New Zealand – 593
- Compound women: Viktoria Balzhanova, Russia – 587
- Barebow men: Sema Zakharov, Russia – 568
- Barebow women: Novi Sri Rizkianti, Indonesia – 532
What’s next?
The third remote stage of the 2021 Indoor Archery World Series will take place on 15-17 January 2021. Entries are now open through OpenWAREOS. Read more about how the circuit works and recap scores from the second stage online.
The 2021 Indoor Archery World Series is a mass-participation circuit of live and online archery tournaments.
