Berlin 2017: 10 things you need to know

New host Berlin has picked an incredible setting for its debut Hyundai Archery World Cup stage. The qualification and elimination phases at the fourth leg of this season’s international circuit take place next to the Olympiastadion, built for the Olympic Games held in 1936 – before the finals move to Lilli-Henoch Sportplatz.

It’s that pivotal time in the season when the contenders for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final are decided. Here’s what you need to know before competition begins…

1. Locked

Five athletes were qualified for the Rome 2017 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final at the end of stage three: Brady Ellison, Chang Hye Jin, Stephan Hansen, Sarah Sonnichsen and Sara Lopez. All except Lopez will compete in Berlin.

Sonnichsen has already secured the number one seed in the compound women’s event, Lopez will remain number two unless Sarah Prieels wins stage four – but the other three qualified athletes are not locked into their pole positions.

2. bubble

Recurve women: Probable – Ksenia Perova, Tan Ya-Ting, Ki Bo Bae; possible – Alicia Marin, Audrey Adiceom, Lei Chein-Ying, Hayakawa Ren; in with a shot – Lin Shih-Chia, Ana Maria Rendon, Deepika Kumari, Aida Roman, Mackenzie Brown.

Recurve men: Probable – Im Dong Hyun, Kim Woojin, Jean-Charles Valladont, Wei Chun-Heng; possible – Steve Wijler, Sjef van den Berg, David Pasqualucci, Muhammad Akmal Nor Hasrin; in with a shot – Marcus D’Almeida, Thomas Chirault, Atanu Das.

Compound women: Probable – Sarah Prieels, Tanja Jensen, Andrea Marcos; possible – Parisa Baratchi, Chen Yi-Hsuan; in with a shot – Toja Ellison, Cassidy Cox.

Compound men: Probable – Steve Anderson, Reo Wilde, Mike Schloesser, PJ Deloche; possible – Choi Yonghee, Chen Hsiang-Hsuan, Patrick Coghlan, Sergio Pagni; in with a shot – Daniel Munoz, Esmaeil Ebadi, Rodolfo Gonzalez.

3. Outside picks

Recurve women: Alejandra Valencia, down in 16th, would likely need to medal to be in with a chance of nipping into one of the last two places to qualify for the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final.

Recurve men: Miguel Alvarino Garcia, who won the tour in 2015, is ranked 14th on 12 points arriving in Berlin, eight off the pace. He’s been able to pull out big results before.

Compound women: With the three Sara(h)s taking the lion’s share of the ranking points so far, this competition remains wide open. Watch out for Natalia Avdeeva who, having only two top 10s on the season, is still very much in the running.
 
Compound men: Alberto Simonelli would have made a medal match in Salt Lake if not for a failed let-down in the quarters that lost him the match. Nineteenth in the World Cup Rankings, a medal match might be enough to push him into the top seven for a home Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Rome.

4. Weather report

We’re expecting sunny, if cloudy, conditions for the ranking round – but a thunderstorm on Thursday, during or – fingers crossed – after eliminations. 

Hopefully that inclement weather doesn’t cause delays (lightning is one of the only things that can stop a tournament), and we survive until a calm finals weekend that might see a spot of rain, but nothing too difficult to cope with.

5. The numbers

With 351 athletes from 50 countries making the trip to the German capital, this last stage of the 2017 circuit is also the largest.

Five teams came with full, 16-archer squads – Germany, India, Italy, Russia and the USA – and eight with one; Karma Sherab (Bhutan), Marcus D’Almeida (Brazil), Viktor Orosz (Hungary), Mohammed Mahmood Jassim (Iraq), Amanda Warehime (US Virgin Islands), Julia Oleksejenko (Latvia), Stephan Klein (Mauritius) and Ibrahim Al-Mohanadi (Qatar) all travelled alone.

6. Bold predictions

Deepika Kumari qualifies for Rome: Sitting in 12th in the World Cup rankings arriving at stage four, Kumari needs a strong top eight to make the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in 2017. The four-time silver medallist at the season-ending event will pull that out of the bag.

Viktor Orosz makes finals: The Hungarian 18-year-old has won three world youth titles, two indoors and one out, but finished only 33rd in his two senior outings – at the Antalya stage of the circuit in 2016 and the worlds in Copenhagen in 2015. Orosz will win senior medals, sooner rather than later.

Korean teams take golds: On the one-year anniversary of Rio 2016, both Korea’s men’s and women’s teams take gold in Berlin for the first time at a Hyundai Archery World Cup stage this season.

7. Hometown hero

The runner-up and individual silver medallist in the recurve women’s competition at the last Olympic Games, Germany’s Lisa Unruh comes from Berlin.

She’ll compete in her first Hyundai Archery World Cup stage in the city just two weeks after winning gold at the World Games.

8. Outperforming rank

In this matchplay era of archery, an athlete’s ranking round performance is not what defines his or her result. Putting an arrow in the middle when it matters, matters more.

Recurve archers averaging 9.3+ points per arrow in matchplay, showing biggest improvement from qualification:

• DAN OLARU, Moldova: RR AVG – 8.73, MP AVG – 9.40 (+0.67)
• RANDI DEGN, Denmark: RR AVG – 8.41, MP AVG – 9.36 (+0.65)
• TOM HALL, Great Britain: RR AVG – 8.86, MP AVG – 9.35 (+0.49)

RR AVG: average arrow score in ranking round; MP AVG: average arrow score in matchplay.

9. Winning formula

At the international level – and out of the athletes competing in Berlin – one compound team has the monopoly on match winning success.

Compound archers with highest match win percentage in 2017, minimum 20 matches:

• Stephan Hansen, Denmark: 22-4, 85% won (AR AVG – 9.84)
• Tanja Jensen, Denmark: 17-4, 81% won (AR AVG – 9.62)
• Sarah Sonnichsen, Denmark: 18-6, 75% won (AR AVG – 9.72)

AR AVG: average arrow score overall.

10. Tiebreak

In our database – which covers Hyundai Archery World Cup events, Olympics, world championships, major indoor and open events since 2006 – 35 of the athletes competing at stage four have gone to 10 or more tiebreaks in matchplay. (The most is Brady Ellison, with 28.)

The three most successful archers in tiebreak situations, minimum 10 shoot-off matches, by career win percentage:

• LUIS ALVAREZ, Mexico: 9-2, 82% won
• MARCELLA TONIOLI, Italy: 8-3, 73% won
• Ki Bo Bae, Korea: 11-4, 73% won

The least successful archers in tiebreak situations, minimum 10 shoot-off matches, by career win percentage:

• RICK VAN DER VEN, Netherlands: 11-5, 31% won
• FLORIAN KAHLLUND, Germany: 7-3, 30% won
• MIKE SCHLOESSER, Netherlands: 11-4, 27% won

The fourth stage of the 2017 Hyundai Archery World Cup runs 8 to 13 August in Berlin, Germany.