Erika Jones Takes Gold in Telford, Levi Morgan Scores Bronze
OutdoorHub 01.28.14
Having taken gold in Singapore – and silver in Marrakesh for VALLADONT – the pair extended their lead in the Indoor World Cup rankings by winning in Telford, in an impressively-lit finals arena.
Striding from a darkened door into a room packed with over 1,000 spectators, illuminated by rows and piles of multi-coloured light beams, Jean Charles VALLADONT fell behind in the all-French final against Thomas FAUCHERON. VALLADONT fought back, finished with two 30s to win 6-4, and claimed his second gold (and third medal) in a row at this year’s Indoor Archery World Cup.
Erika JONES (USA) looked sharp from start to finish in Telford: displaying the kind of form that got the compound archer voted Female Athlete of the Year for 2013. She finished off Danish archer Camilla SOEMOD in four sets, and won her second gold in a row after Singapore as well.
After beating Levi MORGAN, who ended up with bronze, 10-9 in a semifinal one-arrow shoot-off, Dutch 90-metre and 1440 round world record holder Peter ELZINGA lined up opposite another Netherlands compound man, Mike SCHLOESSER. His outdoor World Champion title could not help him after a second-end wobble, which saw him score 28 to ELZINGA’s 30. The pair tied every other set – all perfect scores or 29s – and ELZINGA gave SCHLOESSER no room to make up ground on his way to winning the match.
Since tying the world record during the first qualification session in Telford on Friday, Korean archer KIM Yu Mi dropped just two sets, one against Brit Naomi FOLKARD and one againstAida ROMAN (MEX) in the semis, on her way to the recurve women’s final. Against teammate PARK Sehui, KIM’s victory did not come so easily.
Both shot nothing but 29s or above, out of a possible 30, each set – tying after the regulation five were done. In the one-arrow shoot-off, one Korean shot a 10, before the other matched it – and nearly exactly. The judge could not decide a winner, so the field was reset, and the tiebreaker rerun. Second time around, KIM Yu Mi came out on top – although it was close, and 10 versus 10 again. Olympic silver medallist Aida ROMAN prevented a Korean clean sweep of the podium by beating JEON Sungeun in the bronze medal match.
See full results and photos from the third stage of the Indoor Archery World Cup in Telford.
Indoor Archery World Cup rankings
Jean Charles VALLADONT and Erika JONES’ both claimed their second stage win in as many stages – pushing them to the top of the recurve men and compound women rankings respectively.
Peter ELZINGA’s win pushed him up to second on the compound men’s leaderboard, behind the man he beat in the Telford final, Mike SCHLOESSER, while KIM Yu Mi edged ahead in the recurve women’s event.
The Indoor Archery World Cup continues on 6 February at the Southpoint Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The Vegas Shoot runs from 6 to 9 February 2014, and is the last stop on the indoor tour before the Indoor Archery World Championships in Nimes at the end of next month.
The European Archery Festival in Telford was the third stage of the 2013/14 Indoor Archery World Cup. Check the event website, follow it on Facebook and Twitter, and recap results and photos from the competition.
