Nervy starts in Nimes during first qualification session

For many of the archers on the line at the Sud de France – Nimes Archery Tournament, this weekend’s event is their first international competition in a year.

“I was definitely more nervous than usual,” said Amanda Mlinaric, who currently sits atop the compound women’s qualification. "I feel like I need to relearn some things that you can only learn when competing in an actual competition."

The 19-year-old Croatian opened with a 28 – her lowest score of the day. But after dropping eight points over the first half of her 60-arrow, 18-metre ranking round, she let the field just three down for the back 30.

Her total of 589 out of a possible 600 points had her three up on Estonia’s Lisell Jaatma, who won last year's tournament, for the top spot.

She wasn’t the only archer to see an uptick in performance as the round progressed.

Reigning Indoor Archery World Series Champion Mike Schloesser missed the 10 three times in his first 30 arrows, including two in the 10th and last end. Those would be the last points he surrendered, adding a 300-point second half for a compound men’s top total of 597.

“It felt really stressful at the beginning, but after a while, it got back to normal," Schloesser said. "Here we’re back with a considerable amount of archers, rather than just eight or four. But you’re still far away, and you’re still kind of in a bubble.”

Music typically plays between ends at international events. It’s switched off when the buzzer sounds, then archers step to the line to shoot.

With the restrictions on the number of archers allowed to compete at any one time, the increased space between each target and the other social distancing regulations in place, the Parc des Expos – a venue that normally hums with the sound of spectators and visitors to the popular on-site trade show – is eerily muted.

So organisers left background music playing all the time.

“It‘s really quiet,” said Schloesser, adding a tinge of deadpan humour. “I can hear myself think … so that’s not good.”

Gaby Schloesser (581), Pierre Plihon and Alen Remar (590) posted the top scores in the recurve competitions during the first qualification session. About half of the 110-plus archers in Nimes are yet to shoot their ranking round and will do so Saturday.

The elimination matches are scheduled to follow on Saturday afternoon and run into Sunday morning.

Competition at this year’s Sud de France – Nimes Archery Tournament concludes with the bronze and gold medal matches, which start at 13h30 CET on Sunday and will be streamed live across World Archery’s digital platforms in English and broadcast domestically via Sport en France.

The event is a bonus stage for the 2021 Indoor Archery World Series.

French Olympian Plihon, the current recurve men’s leader, plays a dual role in Nimes. He both competes and is part of the team that organises the event.

“The goal today was to have fun and enjoy competing with other archers,” he said. “The performance is good; 590 is one of my best scores, though not the top one. But the most important thing was to have fun, as an archer and as an organiser … and it’s terrific.”

The 2021 Indoor Archery World Series is a mass-participation circuit of live and online archery tournaments.