Brady breaks 690 for fourth time in career on the international circuit
The USA’s Brady Ellison scored 694 points, 14 more than any other recurve man, to lead qualification at the opening stage of the 2021 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Guatemala City.
“When we have conditions like this, you want to push a world record. I had a few too many mistakes today, but overall, I’m happy with shooting well and coming away with the first seed,” said the reigning Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion. “And it’s nice to see everyone and be competing again.”
The result is Brady’s second-highest ranking round score of his career on the international circuit, trailing only a 697 from 2016.
It is the fourth time he‘s broken 690 at a stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup, and the first time he’s done so since the 692 he recorded two years ago at the opening leg of the tour in Medellin.
The result was never in doubt Tuesday in Guatemala.
Brady was four points up on Indian archer Atanu Das at the halfway break. As the afternoon light at the field slowly dimmed but the air remained relatively still, the world number one pressed his advantage – a single eight, the only real blemish on his back-36 scorecard.
It’s not the world record of 702 he shot in mid-2019, but this 694 is an excellent early marker at the start of a season during which he will look to add a record sixth Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion trophy.
“I think I was just being too careful in the first half. I shot too many 57s,” Ellison said. “Just trying to be like, ‘Oh, is that wind, do I need to aim off?’ Just kind of not paying attention, being a little bit too careful. And in the second half, it wasn’t that. I just shot.”
Das totalled 680 points for second, while Florian Unruh rode a back-half surge of 345 to a total of 679 and the third seed.
Unruh wasn’t the only German archer in the top eight. Max Weckmueller, who has flashed at recent European Grands Prix, landed fourth, just ahead of Olympic silver medallist Jean-Charles Valladont.
The USA is currently without a team quota qualified for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Here the recurve men’s squad was seeded top, led of course by Brady but aptly backed up by Josef Scarboro.
He seeded sixth with 676, completing a run of the five places behind Ellison, each of which separated by just one point.
Only 10 points separated places seven to 24, with four archers coming in on 666.
Competition continues for compound archers at the first stage of the 2021 Hyundai Archery World Cup with early matchplay tomorrow and eliminations down to final fours on Thursday in Guatemala City.
Top 8 seeds: Recurve men
- Brady Ellison, USA – 694
- Atanu Das, India – 680
- Florian Unruh, Germany – 679
- Max Weckmueller, Germany – 678
- Jean-Charles Valladont, France – 677
- Josef Scarboro, USA – 676
- Crispin Duenas, Canada – 673
- Sjef van den Berg, Netherlands – 673
