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Cagiran top with 705 after choppy compound qualifying at worlds

21 September 2021

Yankton, South Dakota, USA

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Compound archers shoot at the 2021 Hyundai World Archery Championships.

Evren Cagiran and Sara Lopez topped compound qualifying to secure top seeds on the first day of competition at the 2021 Hyundai World Archery Championships in Yankton.

Cagiran shot 705 points to lead the men.

The Turkish archer finished five up on world number one (and 2013 World Archery Champion) Mike Schloesser. The pair were the only two compounders to hit the 700-point barrier in challenging conditions.

“The weather was really windy. Luckily, in our training range we have the same wind, so I didn’t feel bad. I felt quite comfortable shooting in this,” said Evren. The gusts on the Yankton range today, according to the forecast, could hit 30kph.

“I’m not going to try and do anything else. I’m not going to try anything extra. I’m just going to try to do as I did today, try to shoot as I did today. And if I did it today, I have confidence I can do the same tomorrow and any day after that. I believe I can win.”

Chris Perkins, who won the worlds in 2011, Tim Krippendorf, reigning World Archery Champion James Lutz, Kim Jongho, Abhishek Verma and Lukasz Przybylski completed the compound men’s top eight.

Przybylski won a four-way shoot-off for the last bye.

Sara Lopez’s 693 and pole position is an encouraging start to her championship campaign. Arguably the best compound woman in history, the world title is conspicuous in its absence on her resume.

“I have worked hard and I hope things work out, but if it doesn’t happen I don’t see the worlds like something impossible but like something close, tangible,” she said.

Having built a four-point lead, Sara was caught by the conditions on the last end and got away with a 56.

She still came in one point up on Great Britain’s Ella Gibson (692) and two ahead of her Colombian teammate Alejandra Usquiano (691) after 72 arrows.

“It’s a good score and I’m happy because I helped the team qualified first,” said Sara. “But with these conditions, we are all equal, anything could happen. An archer that qualified lower can beat you and the ones at the top can lose in the first round. Nothing is written. But it does feels good to be back [on top], I haven’t been first seed in a long time.”

Toja Ellison, Andrea Marcos, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, world number one Tanja Gellenthien and Sarah Prieels also receive a bye into the third round.

Reigning World Archery Champion Natalia Avdeeva shot 677 points to seed 12th, one place ahead of Paige Pearce, the woman she beat in ’s-Hertogenbosch two years ago.

Turkey seeded top in the men’s and mixed team events.

Colombia’s women, led by Lopez, were 35 points ahead of their nearest competition, Great Britain, after team qualifying. They are looking to regain this particular world title, having won it in 2017 but failed to make the podium in 2019.

Lopez is currently ranked third in the world individually, Usquiano sixth and Nora Valdez, the third, is 10th.

Competition continues at the world championships with recurve qualification in the afternoon.