Dutch world number one Mike Schloesser (717) and Great Britain’s Ella Gibson (711) topped qualifying in the compound events at the third stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Paris, France.
The same pair won the season opener in Antalya in April.
Gibson’s score of 712 out of a possible 720 was one point more than her current European record for the 72-arrow 50-metre round, which she set at the Arizona Cup only two months ago.
“I’m not as happy as I probably should be. I felt like the world record was in my grasp and I let it go,” said Ella, who finished just one point behind Sara Lopez’s world-best of 713 – and had an arrow called out on a line call in the last end.
“It’s always hard to shoot well at a World Cup and everyone’s there and you have cameras around and everyone always knows what you’re on. That has added pressure.”
Conditions weren’t perfect in Charlety Stadium – there was enough wind to make archers think – but they were pretty good.
“I had to watch the flags, aim off, bubble it. So that in itself is stressful,” said Gibson. Aiming off means not aiming at the centre while bubbling is tiling the bow. “But I’m really happy I put together a record performance today.”
The compound target line in Charlety stadium.
Mike Schloesser cleaned the first half of qualifying in Paris.
Mister Perfect shot a perfect 360 points for his first 36 arrows.
Mister Perfect’s water flask.
Kim Jongho kept pace with Mike through five perfect ends.
Schloesser’s field-leading score is his best result on the Hyundai Archery World Cup since 2017 and extended his ridiculous run of top seeds. Mike is now unbeaten in the first phase of competition through six consecutive stages of the Hyundai Archery World Cup dating back to the start of 2021.
He hasn’t been beaten in matchplay this year, either.
“Really solid, really happy about it,” said Schloesser. “I’ve been shooting really high scores recently and that‘s unique. Normally my practice scores aren’t as good as my competition.”
“I’ve made some good choices already this week and I’m really happy about it,” he added.
A near-perfect afternoon was marred by only two brief lapses of concentration.
In the last end, Schloesser picked up the wrong bow – he’s been shooting his back-up in Paris – and got to full draw before he realised.
“I thought, this feels different. Then I was thinking, maybe I should just shoot it, but no, I had a really good score,” he said.
About an hour earlier, when Mister Perfect was still clean after 42-plus hours, he didn’t quite pay enough attention to adjusting for the wind and put two arrows in the nine in a single end. (His lowest end total of the day.)
That probably cost him a shot at a career-best score and the 718-point world record.
Gibson’s career-best score had her seven points clear of the rest of the compound women’s field.
Jyothi Surekha Vennam of India, who returned to the Indian top team ahead of this event, seeded second with 705 points. Tanja Gellenthien and Gwangju stage winner Kim Yunhee came in third and four with 704 and 703, respectively.
Behind Schloesser, the next three names on the compound men’s leaderboard were Korean.
Yang Jaewon (713), Kim Jongho (713) and Choi Yonghee (711) combined for a total of 2137 – to beat the compound men’s team qualifying record by four points. That record was previously held by the USA.
Korea also seeded top in the compound women’s event while Great Britain qualified first in the compound mixed team competition.
Abishek Verma took sixth seed in the compound men’s event on his birthday.
There were cuts in both individual events with only 64 athletes advancing to matchplay. Twenty-two compound men were eliminated after a cut at 691 points (Rui Pereira lost a four-way shoot-off there) and one compound woman.
Competition in Paris continues with compound team eliminations on Wednesday morning, followed by recurve qualifying in the afternoon.
Top seeds: Compound men
- Mike Schloesser, Netherlands – 717 (8 circuit ranking points)
- Yang Jaewon, Korea – 713 65 10s 40 Xs (7 points)
- Kim Jongho, Korea – 713 65 10s 34 Xs (7 points)
- Choi Yonghee, Korea – 711 64 10s (5 points)
- Braden Gellenthien, USA – 711 63 10s 35 Xs (5 points)
- Abhishek Verma, India – 711 63 10s 30 Xs (5 points)
- Mathias Fullerton, Denmark – 711 63 10s 29 Xs (5 points)
- Domagoj Buden, Croatia – 710 63 10s (1 point)
- Shamai Yamrom, Israel – 710 62 10s 32 Xs (1 point)
- Jean Philippe Boulch, France – 710 62 10s 29 Xs (1 point)
Top seeds: Compound women
- Ella Gibson, Great Britain – 712 (8 circuit ranking points)
- Jyothi Surekha Vennam, India – 705 (7 points)
- Tanja Gellenthien, Denmark – 704 (6 points)
- Kim Yunhee, Korea – 703 (5 points)
- Oh Yoohyun, Korea – 701 (4 points)
- Sophie Dodemont, France – 700 54 10s (3 points)
- Lisell Jaatma, Estonia – 700 52 10s (3 points)
- Song Yun Soo, Korea – 698 (1 point)
