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Gibson wins third stage as Jimmy Lutz qualifies for World Cup Final

23 July 2022

Medellin, Colombia

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Britain's Ella Gibson became the first Hyundai Archery World Cup triple-stage winner since 2016 after defeating Dafne Quintero (147-141) in the compound women's individual final in Medellin, Colombia on Saturday.

“I became world number one at the beginning of this week [and] that puts a lot of expectation on yourself," said Gibson after her stage four victory on the 2022 circuit, which had followed her stage 1 and stage 3 golds.

"You still want to be able to perform, show that you do deserve that place in the ranking, that it isn't a one off, a fluke or anything like that. It was really important for me to come out and, not necessarily win today, but to shoot really well and show that this is how I shoot.”

Gibson defeated Sara Lopez (148-146) in the semifinals to go 2-0 up in their fledgling series. They first met in the World Games final in the USA earlier this month and it is quickly turning into a rivalry.

Their final fours match saw Gibson push ahead in the third end (89-87) after Lopez shot two 9s and the Colombian could not find her way back.

“I feel amazing. I mean, I knew it was going to be some really hard matches. Having a semifinal against Sara was definitely an anxious, hard one, but I'm really happy with how I shot," added Gibson.

Lopez bounced back after the disappointment to win bronze, shooting a perfect 150 against Andrea Becerra which included 12 Xs and with them, a new world record.

The result means that Becerra is not through to the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Tlaxcala, Mexico in October, but could qualify as the second Mexican compound woman behind Quintero thanks to the host allocation places.

One athlete who did book their place on Saturday to the finale is the USA's James Lutz.

He won his final against Miguel Becerra 148-138 after his Mexican opponent recorded a miss with his fifth arrow and was left with too much to catch-up.

"I'm happy that I'm going to Mexico but I’m heartbroken for Miguel," said Lutz, who immediately consoled his opponent when their match completed.

"You never want to win that way. I mean, really, my heart just sank. He missed [just] two points other than that arrow, so I needed to shoot my butt off. If something happened to my equipment, he was still one point ahead of me if something were to go wrong. It's a relief but in a bad way. It's just makes me sick."

"It’s something that happens," added Lutz, who won his semifinal against Jean Philippe Boulch 147-143 after the Frenchman shot a 6 with his fifth arrow.

"In our mixed team today I shot a big seven. It easily could have been off the target. With what we're doing here every millimetre matters. I feel so bad for him and I told him that."

"But I'm not going to be mad about a win. I'm super, super excited to go to the world cup final. I feel like I'm back. I'm confident [and] the bow’s shooting great," added the 24-year-old who last won a world cup stage in 2019.

"With covid and everything I changed some stuff up that I probably shouldn't have. We're back to normal now."

Becerra had seen off Mike Schloesser in his semifinal via a tiebreak after the Dutchman had a strong flinch when needing to shoot a 9 to win (he shot an 8). Becerra recorded an X compared to Schloesser's 9 in the single arrow shoot-off.

Competition in Medellin concludes tomorrow with the recurve medal matches.