Kim Woojin capped off a monumental year as he won his fifth recurve men’s Hyundai World Cup Final in Tlaxcala, Mexico.
He defeated fellow Korean Lee Woo Seok 7-3 in set points to cap off a memorable 2024 season which saw him win all three Olympic gold medals in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Tlaxcala is a city that clearly bodes well for Kim as he won his last World Cup in the same city two years ago when he beat Miguel Alvarino Garcia 7-1.
“First of all, I'm very happy. I will try to win not only these five times, but many more in a row,” the Yankton 2021 World champion said in his post match interview. "As I know Lee Wooseok so well, I think it made the match even more thrilling and intense, it was fun.”
Kim’s Olympic individuals triumph this summer was one of the finest archery matches to date against fellow great Brady Ellison and on the face of this result, it looks like it was business as usual for the 32 year old.
However, it was far from his normal clinical self in the first two matches of the morning session as he struggled to get his bow’s sight right.
Paris 2024 men’s team silver medallist Thomas Chirault took the initiative in an overcast day in Tlaxcala as it was he who dropped the first perfect score of the match in the starting end but the Frenchman failed to capitalise on Kim’s inability to regularly find the 10 ring.
Despite never hitting a 30, Kim shot enough 10s to oust Chirault from the contest 7-3 which led him into facing Matias Grande, Mexico’s pick for their home final.
Again, Kim faltered in the first two ends dropping 27 and 28, well below his exceptionally high standards, and was down 1-3 to Grande but came back in the third end with his first 30 of the day.
Grande shot two consecutive 28s losing the lead he worked so hard to build and a tied final end at 29 apiece ended any chances of a guaranteed podium finish for the smiley 20 year old who will certainly be in a World Cup Final once again.
Korea’s dominance in recurve was on show in Les Invalides and it was once again two months on from Paris 2024 as Kim was forced to battle Lee, also of Korea, for the gold medal.
Kim lost to him in the final at Yecheon, the second stage of this year’s circuit and the pair’s camaraderie meant there was more of a relaxed feeling on the shooting line than normal in the season finale of archery’s premier international circuit.
Whatever slight issues he had prior seemingly disappeared as Kim shot exceptionally well, like his usual self, firing eleven 10s, three of which were dead centre in the X, slightly bettering Lee’s ten 10s in a match that had an average arrow of 9.6.
There was no flamboyant celebration, no tears, no excessive screaming from the three-time World champion once his victory was confirmed, just a humble acknowledgement of his friend Lee and another reminder that we are currently witnessing an all time great in his prime.
“I think it will be even more fun next year," Kim said with a wry smile when asked what it was like to compete against Lee once again.
Last year's World Cup champion Marcus D’Almeida lost the chance to retain the gold after losing to silver medallist Lee who he beat in Hermosillo 2023, but the Brazilian didn’t leave Mexico empty handed as he dispatched World Cup Final debutant Grande 6-2.
The only matches left in the Tlaxcala 2024 World Cup Final are in the recurve women which you can watch this afternoon on archery+.
