Easton, Golden Arrow teams lead ranking after second stage of Indoor World Series
The Easton compound squad and an all-French recurve team called The Golden Arrow lead the 2021 Indoor Archery World Series rankings after the second stage.
Three of the top four teams on the recurve leaderboard at this halfway point were new entrants for December. The Golden Arrow, consisting of Thomas Chirault, Clement Jacquey and Lisa Barbelin, scored a combined 1772 – or nearly a 591 average – to claim the top spot. (The maximum is 1800.)
Both Chirault (596) and Barbelin (591) shot at the Lausanne Invitational in Switzerland.
Barbelin delivered a particularly impressive performance at that live event. The left-hander seeded top in the recurve women’s competition and eventually beat Dutch international Gaby Schloesser in a thrilling five-set final.
“I was very stressed, but I am happy and very relieved. It was a hell of a match,” Barbelin said. “It’s weird to find yourself in a competition after so long … but it’s really great to come back.”
The Golden Arrow sits two points up on defending circuit champions Lancaster Archery Supply.
Brady Ellison, who won the recurve men’s competition for the second online stage with 598 out of a possible 600 points, returns as part of the same line-up this season with Jack Williams (594) and Casey Kaufhold (578).
Unlike previous years, the team champion titles will not be decided on a final ranking but after a team-only remote Indoor Archery World Series Finals on 27-28 February 2021.
“I think we have a shot at defending our title, we’re all shooting good. We have two more stages to post some good scores,” said the reigning World Archery Champion Ellison. “I’m not completely sure how the scoring system works – but I do know that if we go and shoot a lot of 10s, it increases our chances."
The top four teams in the ranking after the fourth stage in February will be invited to compete in the Indoor Archery World Series Finals, which will see squads compete under a unique format introduced for the event.
Beiter is the third new entrant to the top four, slotting into the fourth spot – one place behind the previous leaders from the Dutch Olympic squad, who failed to improve on their November result.
Teams are ranked purely on their single-best combined score – the total of the team member’s 60-arrow 18-metre results – over the season.
Reo Wilde (593), Kris Schaff (596) and Linda Ochoa-Anderson (588) have put a manufacturer team representing Easton top of the compound rankings with a combined score of 1777 in the December stage.
Arc Systeme and Archieri del Roccolo sit second and third on 1760 and 1744, respectively.
Estonia’s top squad of Lisell Jaatma, Meeri-Marita Paas and Robin Jaatma drop to fourth, having not improved on their November result of 1740.
As it stands, there are 17 teams registered for the recurve event and 12 listed in the compound competition. Entry is open until midnight CET on 31 December 2020 and costs 60 CHF. World Archery is guaranteeing a prize fund of 10,000 CHF for the team-only Indoor Archery World Series Finals.
To count in the team event, scores must be shot at events officially registered in the World Archery calendar. More information on the team competition and how clubs can get involved is available online.
As well as company teams representing industry brands such as Easton, TRUBall/Axcel, Arc Systeme, Beiter and Lancaster, this year’s event also has national entries from the Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland and Estonia; club teams and independent groups.
The 2021 Indoor Archery World Series is a mass-participation circuit of live and online archery tournaments.
