Australian Worth’s bronze medal bags him Samsun spot

Australia’s Taylor Worth beat the Netherland’s Steve Wijler in the recurve men’s bronze medal match in Berlin to secure himself a place at Hyundai Archery World Cup Final in Samsun in September.

Worth needed the points gained by finishing third to leapfrog Thomas Chirault in the World Cup rankings.

“I’d heard rumours that it was a chance for the final, would go either way, but as soon as anybody brought it up in our team I told them to shut up, don’t mention it. I had a match to focus on and that was secondary,” said Worth.

And what a match it was.

After winning the first two sets with 29- and 30-point three-arrow series, it was Wijler – who was already qualified for Samsun – that shot a perfect set to drag himself back into contention.

Both athletes shot 29 points in the fourth, putting the score at 5-3 entering the fifth and last set.

Worth started nine, 10; Wijler started 10, nine.

With a chance to put the pressure on, Wijler went slightly wide of the middle and scored another nine and Taylor matched him to bring home the bronze.

“I never thought I had it in the bag for a second. He’s such an amazing athlete and an amazing archer. He’s been on the circuit for two years now and he’s got a handful of medals. I knew it was going to be hard from the start so I just tried to do my best and work on my gameplan,” said Worth.

“It’s my second [bronze medal match] on the World Cup circuit, it’s been almost four-and-a-half years since my last chance, and I wasn’t gonna let it slip this time.”

Samsun will be Taylor’s first appearance at the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final.

Only one Australian archer has previously qualified for the event; Patrick Coghlan shot at the season final in Lausanne in 2008.

Australia’s recurve men’s team, which included Dave Barnes in his return after 10 years away from international competition, also took home bronze.

Worth, Barnes and Ryan Tyack beat Kazakhstan, 5-1.

The fourth stage of the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Berlin, Germany on 16 to 22 July.