Mexico City 2015: Archery World Cup Final invitation tracker

Latest update: 5:59pm UTC-5 10 September 2015.

Phase-by-phase, we track the archers that shoot into the top of the Archery World Cup rankings and into an invitation to the Mexico City 2015 Archery World Cup Final during the fourth and last stage of the circuit in Medellin, Colombia.

• Recurve men
• Recurve women
• Compound men
• Compound women

Recurve men

Qualified: Kim Woojin , Lee Seungyun , Brady Ellison , JC Valladont , Collin Klimitchek , Miguel Alvarino Garcia , Xing Yu 

A two-time World Archery Champion, the second coming at Copenhagen 2015, Kim Woojin won the Archery World Cup Final in 2012. He was ranked first arriving in Colombia and secured his invitation after it was confirmed none of the Korean “A Team” would shoot in Medellin. Lee Seungyun, who won the worlds in 2013 – in between teammate Woojin’s two – was mathematically safe after two elimination rounds in Colombia, though he wasn’t shooting there.

After winning the Archery World Cup Final for an unprecedented third time at Lausanne 2014, Brady was certain for a shot at a fourth title when possible usurpers fell out in Medellin third round. It’ll be Brady’s sixth circuit finale in a row – after winning a medal at all five Archery World Cup Finals he has appeared at previously.

Valladont’s determination to walk away with gold at the Wroclaw stage of the Archery World Cup paid off with a first leg win – and enough points to put him into the mix with the Korean top qualifiers, securing a first Final invitation in the Frenchman’s eight-year international career.

With good points at the first two stages of the year, Collin and Miguel Alvarino were in strong positions in the ranking. They failed to register high results in both Wroclaw and Poland, but had enough to stave off enough challengers in Medellin.

Xing Yu shot himself into one of the last spots available by making the final in Colombia.

Recurve women

Qualified: Choi Misun , Ki Bo Bae , Kaori Kawanaka , Ana Maria Rendon , Mackenzie Brown , Deepika Kumari , Le Chien-Ying 

One of the first three athletes to be confirmed, Choi Misun’s silver and gold at the first two stages of the season had her at the top of the rankings and uncatchable after the Wroclaw results landed. (She didn’t shoot in Poland.) Olympic Champion Bo Bae had bronze and silver over the same two events, losing to Misun in the Antalya final. Her Mexico City spot was made certain when she couldn’t be pushed out of the top seven after the results of the third round in Medellin.

Kawanaka had the epitome of a solid season. The London 2012 team bronze medallist picked up points in Shanghai and Antalya, then confirmed her place at Mexico City by staying alive into the Medellin quarterfinals. Ana Maria lost in the fourth round on home soil, but had even more points stacked up arriving in Medellin – and her fourth round finish was enough to become Colombia’s first ever recurve finalist on the Archery World Cup tour.

Mackenzie Brown won Wroclaw and made the top-32 in both Antalya and Medellin. By the time the latter had got to the semifinal stages, her 27-point total put her high enough in the rankings to be a lock.

India’s Kumari won three Archery World Cup Final silver medals from 2011 to 2013, then missed out on qualifying in 2014. She’ll return to the arena off the back of a bronze medal at Antalya 2015. Kumari, who didn’t shoot in Medellin, had to wait until the semifinals to see if either of Chinese Taipei’s Le Chien-Ying or Lin Shih-Chia could overtake her on points.

Lin lost too early in the brackets, but Le and teammate Tan Ya-Ting made the Medellin bronze medal match, to shoot against each other.

Le – ranked higher – could amass a maximum of 23 ranking points if she won that match. Kumari had 24 for the season – but Khatuna Lorig sat on 22. When Le beat Tan to Medellin bronze, 6-4, she leapfrogged Lorig and qualified for Mexico City.

Compound men

Qualified: Mike Schloesser , Reo Wilde , Abhishek Verma , Sebastien Peineau , Martin Damsbo , Dominique Genet , Demir Elmaagacli 

Mister Perfect had silver in Shanghai and silver in Antalya to start the season. He was mathematically secure after the third stage, where he finished sixth.

On the 10th anniversary of the Archery World Cup, the winner of the very first circuit back in ’06, Reo Wilde, will shoot for the title again. After a bronze medal and two top-10 finishes in the first three stages, Reo’s spot was secured when he made the Medellin quarterfinals. Mexico City will be his sixth Final and fifth in a row.

Abhishek Verma won Wroclaw, saying his secret was “staying happy”. He didn’t shoot Medellin, but by the quarterfinals in Colombia there was no way he could be eliminated.

Paris 2013 Archery World Cup Final Champion Martin Damsbo never finished higher than fourth on the 2015 circuit, but he also never finished lower than eighth. Consistency won out – and Damsbo shot himself a ticket to Mexico City.

The compound men’s roster was completed before the Medellin semis began, with Demir and two French archers who both did well at stage one in Shanghai – Peineau and Genet – stealing qualifying tickets out from under the noses of States pair Steve Anderson and Bridger Deaton. Peineau’s quarterfinal win over ’14 Champion Deaton, 149-145, was the clincher.

Compound women

Qualified: Linda Ochoa , Natalia Avdeeva , Stephanie Sarai Salinas , Sara Lopez , Andrea Marcos , Crystal Gauvin 

In Linda’s most successful Archery World Cup season to date, she collected individual podiums at the first and third stages: Silver in Shanghai and a bronze at Wroclaw that made her a lock for an Archery World Cup Final in her home country – and her third appearance at the series’ finale after Edinburgh 2010 and Lausanne 2014.

Avdeeva and defending Archery World Cup Final Champion Sara Lopez both shot themselves into invitations by making the top 16 at Medellin. Stephanie Sarai Salinas lost in the third round, finishing 17th – but had enough points it didn’t matter and became the second Mexican compound woman to lock down a space.

Salinas qualifying meant Mexico forfeited its host nation space – and the top eight athletes (rather than seven) in the compound women’s division qualified.

Andrea Marcos made it six, then Crystal Gauvin seven at the Medellin quarterfinal phase. Neither were still alive in the competition, but neither were enough of the archers that could jump them in the rankings.

Still to decide: Alejandra Usquiano , Mariia Vinogradova  or Yesim Bostan  (2 places available). As all three archers have the same number of World Cup ranking points, the world ranking after Medellin 2015 decide which two qualify for Mexico City 2015.