Spain shooting for second straight team title in Lausanne

Miguel Alvarino Garcia, Daniel Castro and Pablo Acha are into another recurve men’s team final on the Hyundai Archery World Cup.

One month after winning gold over the United States at the first stage of the international circuit in Guatemala City – Spain's first recurve men’s team gold medal in the 15-year history of the event – the trio will look to duplicate their success in Lausanne. 

“I think we’re a strong team and this year will be our year,” Garcia said after Guatemala City, alluding to the success to come – and the hopes to qualify an Olympic quota place next month. Spain will face Germany’s Florian Unruh, Maximilian Weckmueller and Johannes Maier in the gold medal match in Lausanne on Sunday.

The nation faced an early scare during its second-round clash against Bangladesh on Friday. The match was decided in a tiebreak, with Spain prevailing by scoring 28 to their opposition’s 23.

Garcia, Castro and Acha were dominant in their next two matches, defeating Russia and the Netherlands in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, in straight sets.

“We are really happy. We work very hard for such results," Alvarino said. “The feelings are great in such situations.”

Germany advanced to the final after two matches decided in tiebreaks. Their semifinal match was especially close. Unruh, Weckmueller and Maier scored a perfect 30 to Italy’s 29. Spain doesn’t sound fazed.

“We need to do what we did in Guatemala. So we have to go for it and do our best,” Garcia said. “We are very strong this season.”

Neither Spain nor Germany has qualified the full men’s team quota for Tokyo 2020 yet. Everything in the recurve team events – so far this season – leads towards that goal. Spain’s already a favourite to succeed in that quest right now.

How much more so if they pick up a second consecutive gold on the international circuit?