Brady Ellison beats Jack Williams in all-USA recurve men’s final

Brady Ellison retained his spot atop the podium on Sunday with his 11th-career stage victory at the third leg of the 2021 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Paris, France. 

The reigning circuit champion beat USA teammate Jack Williams, 6-2, to finish his last event before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in an impressive fashion. Williams, who will join Ellison in Japan as a member of a full USA team quota won just days ago, received valuable experience of his own on the final stage while booking his ticket to the 2021 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in September.

“This one feels really good,” said Ellison, who professed to feeling underwhelmed by his shooting earlier in the week. “I’ve really taken every arrow since then in practice and got some things lined out and felt like I shot pretty good today, scored well, so that’s good.”

“Now I have two weeks until we leave for the Olympics. I’ve shot a tournament every single weekend since the first week in April. It’s awesome to end this stretch and then head to the Games in a couple of weeks.”

Paris was all about the Olympics for Ellison, who entered the event with his invitation to the season finale in Yankton already secure following a stage two victory in Lausanne. The United States captured men's and women's team quotas at the final Olympic team qualifier and spent the duration of its stay polishing its skillset with the Games less than a month away.

Williams, who beat Patrick Huston of Great Britain, 6-2, in his semifinal, elected not to attend the first two stages of the international circuit to focus on the team’s Olympic trials. With his spot on the squad and the team’s subsequent quota at the Olympics confirmed, he turned his attention toward winning a medal in Paris and shooting valuable competition arrows ahead of Tokyo.

Brady, the undisputed leader of the squad, sees quality across the depth of the States squad.

“I’m pretty confident in myself and our team,” Ellison said. “All of Team USA. The women are shooting awesome, and Mackenzie [Brown] has medalled at two World Cups this year, the only two she’s been to. Jack just medalled, and I have two wins now.”

Williams made a run at Ellison, closing a 2-0 deficit after the first set with a perfect 30 to tie the match. Ellison then responded with a 30 of his own, followed by a 29 in the fourth to which Williams couldn’t muster a defence.

Ellison beat Italy’s Federico Musolesi, 6-2, in his semifinal, opening with a 30 and three sets of 28 to advance to the final.

Musolesi responded by taking bronze ahead of Patrick Huston, also 6-2.

The Olympics begin 23 July in Tokyo, and an individual gold medal is the one item missing from Ellison's otherwise decorated career. With a victory in Paris, the reigning world number one has bolstered his confidence with the hope of filling that void once and for all.

“As a team, I think the USA is doing really good,” he said. “I’m pretty excited to go to the Olympics and win some medals.”

The recurve finals brought the third stage of the 2021 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Paris to a close.