Ochoa-Anderson makes one-year wedding anniversary golden

Linda Ochoa-Anderson had her best international season in 2015 – 13 years into her international archery career – which culminated in bronze at the Archery World Cup Final in Mexico City, in front of a supportive Mexican crowd.

Though she said she’d taken a long break after that event, held in October, Linda kept the same strong form into the indoor season. 

After qualifying fourth at the third stage of the Indoor Archery World Cup in Nimes, with 588 out of 600, Linda upset top seed Toja Cerne in a semifinal shoot-off. The pair both shot 10s, but Linda’s was closest to the middle.

In a final against Irene Franchini, she trailed by two points after two, before shooting a perfect 30 in the third to draw her Italian opponent’s advantage back to one, which held heading into the final end.

“I knew I needed to shoot a 30 with those last three arrows,” said Linda, who did just that: Three consecutive 10s, while Franchini opened 10, nine.

“I thought she was going to shoot a 10 with her last, so I was mentally preparing myself for the shoot-off.”

Irene’s arrow landed in the nine and Linda took gold. Final score: 146-145.

After the match, the Mexican athlete, who married USA compound archer Steve Anderson in 2015, revealed the Nimes finals day was also the pair’s one-year wedding anniversary. By all accounts, not a bad way to celebrate.

The Nimes 2016 compound men’s title came down to a clash between Mister Perfect Mike Schloesser and Braden Gellenthien. Schloesser won in Nimes in 2015, after shooting the world’s first perfect 600 in qualifying.

It didn’t go his way a second time around, as second-seed Gellenthien took gold, 147-145.

“This tournament really meant a lot to me because I failed to make the cut last year. I trained extra hard for this one,” said Braden. “We both felt the nerves, I think, but I was so impressed with how my new bow aimed. Even when I was shaky the pin wasn’t.”

Braden dropped one arrow out of the 10 in each of the first three ends. He shot clean and perfect 30s for the last two.

Mike was honest: “I wasn’t good enough to win. I wanted to win this tournament for a second year in a row and I just wanted it too much.”

Following his win, a special spectator ran down to give Braden a hug on the field of play.

“I couldn’t figure out what to buy my mother for Christmas,” he explained. “So I bought her a trip to France. I gave her a box of French toast in the morning, then croissants later on – then finally her tickets. It was great to have her here to watch me.”

Toja Cerne took compound women’s bronze and Jesse Broadwater compound men’s.

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