ELLISON wins three gold medals in Ogden

Recurve Women Team

  Bronze Medal Final – USA (1) v China (2) Last year at the World Cup Stage 2 in Antalya, the USA beat China in the semifinals, 214-208. This time the Chinese archers took the lead from the start, 54-53. The USA had a poor second end with two 7s, for a total of only 49. Miranda LEEK, Khatuna LORIG, Jennifer NICHOLS trailed 101-110 halfway through. The archers from China shot 10-10-9-9-8-9 in the third end, one point better than the USA. They led by 10 points, 165-155 and clinched the match before the last arrow. Victory at 219-207 and bronze medal for CHENG Ming, FANG Yuting and XU Jing.   Gael PREVOST: The Chinese archers were much more accurate than the Americans, despite Miranda LEEK’s strong performance. They built their advantage in the second end and were never threatened by the USA.   Gold Medal Final – Ukraine (5) v India (3) This is the rematch of the Antalya final, where India won 206-197. Ukraine did not have a good start with 51 points on the first end. India led by 4 points with a 55. In the second end, India shot a 6, while Ukraine shot two 10s in a row! Both teams were tied at the end of the second end. India took a 1-point lead in the third end, thanks to a 10 on their last arrow. The Ukrainians had an excellent start to their last end with two 10s and one 9, while the Indian archers were less accurate with two 8s and a 9. Ukraine didn't have a shot outside the gold, concluding the final end with two 9s and a 10. India finished with good arrows (10-8-10) but it was too late for the gold medal, which went to Nina MYLCHENKO, Kateryna PALEKHA and Kateryna YAROVSKA.   Gael PREVOST: MYLCHENKO was very good in the role of opening archer with a total of 74 points. This probably allowed her teammates to shoot with less pressure and to score well.   Recurve Men Team   Bronze Medal Final - Ukraine (4) v India (6) These teams have met three times in the past few years and India emerged the winner every time. Today, the Ukrainians took the lead 55-52 after the first end, thanks to two 10s in their 4th and 5th arrows. India shot a superb second end, starting with three Xs followed by a 10 and two 9s. Ukraine shot only 53 points to trail 108-110. They were better in the third end with 56 points, to come only 1 point short of India, 164-165. The Ukrainians' last end was excellent, with two 9s and four 10s. India shot 9-9-9-9-8-9 for fourth place. Bronze medals for Dmytro HRACHOV, Markiyan IVASHKO and Viktor RUBAN.   Gael PREVOST: The Ukrainians know how to shoot well when they need it. The peculiarity in this match was the change of shooting order in the last end: the opening shooter for Ukraine is usually RUBAN, but the first arrow of the last end was shot by HRACHOV. It really helped their team at last!   Gold Medal Final – USA (1) v China (2) This was a rematch of last year’s gold medal final: the USA won over China 222-215. Brady ELLISON, Joe FANCHIN, Jake KAMINSKI started with a total of 54, but the Chinese CHEN Wenyuan, Xiaoxiang DAI and XING Yu did better with 10-8-9-10-9-10. They led 56-54. However the Americans reacted with a superb 58 in the second end. The Chinese shot with less consistency (54). To the delight of the spectators, the USA led 112-109. The Chinese archers had a weak third end at 52, allowing the USA to increase their lead to 7 points, 168-161. The Americans faltered in the last end with 8-8-9-10-9-8, but nonetheless won the match and the gold medal, 220-216.   Gael PREVOST : Both teams were a little bit bothered by the wind that started to blow in the evening. The Americans, who had Brady ELLISON, were the favourites and as expected won this gold medal on home turf.   Recurve Mixed Team   Gold Medal Final – USA (1) v India (3) The pair from India, Deepika KUMARI / Jayanta TALUKDAR had the best first end while Miranda LEEK scored 6 with her first arrow, causing the USA to trail 33-36. However, the Americans were perfect in the second end with 40 points. The pair from India had a disastrous second end when they ran out of time and TALUKDAR couldn’t shoot his last arrow on time. The USA led 73-62 and it seemed the match was over. In the third end, Miranda LEEK shot a 6 again, but thanks to good scores from Brady ELLISON the USA still led 108-99 before the last four arrows. Both teams ended with 37 points. Victory with 145-136 and gold medals for LEEK and ELLISON! Gael PREVOST: The match was over after TALUKDAR ran out of time and couldn’t shoot his last arrow in the second end.   Recurve Women Individual   Bronze Medal Final – Kateryna PALEKHA (UKR/24) v Alejandra VALENCIA (MEX/19) This final was rather unexpected and featured two archers who met for the first time: PALEKHA, 30, made the Ukrainian team for the first time this season. Only 16 years old, VALENCIA started to make a name for herself when she won the 2010 Pan American Championships.   It was a good start from VALENCIA who lost only 4 points in the first set (0-2). PALEKHA reacted superbly in the second with three 10s to tie at 2-2. Her opponent from Mexico recovered the lead by scoring 29 points against 25 (4-2). In the fourth set, the Ukrainian archer shot an 8* that was upgraded to a 9, winning the set by just one point (26-25) and coming back 4-4. In the fifth and final set VALENCIA shot better under pressure: she needed at least a 9 on her last arrow in order to win the set and her first World Cup medal. And she did!   Gael PREVOST: Great performance by the archer from Mexico who is still a Cadet and has just won her first World Cup medal.   Gold Medal Final – Deepika KUMARI (IND/4) v CHENG Ming (CHN/18) The 16-year-old Deepika KUMARI is a rising star on the international circuit. She won the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and won a silver with her team at the recent World Archery Championships in Turin. Her best individual finish so far in the World Cup is a silver medal in Shanghai 2010. The fact that she won the Cadet World Championships in this very stadium in 2009 probably boosted her confidence today. Her Chinese opponent, aged 25, has won several team medals at last year’s World Cup and will climb the individual podium for the first time today.    The first set ended in a tie between the two archers at 27-27 (1-1). At the end of the second set, the archers were tied again, this time at 25-25 (2-2). In the third set, they both opened with a 10, but the Chinese archer was more accurate with yet another 10 and a 9, while her opponent concluded the end with a 9 and a 7. CHENG won the third set to lead 4-2. In the fourth set, she shot exactly the same scores as in the previous one (28 points). KUMARI didn't manage to match those scores and shot only 25. Victory and the gold medal for CHENG, 6-2.   Gael PREVOST: The most experienced archer won the match. CHENG really made the difference over the last two sets by shooting both times 28 points.   Recurve Men Individual   Bronze medal Final – Joe FANCHIN (USA/12) v Markiyan IVASHKO (UKR/14) Both archers have had great performances in their first World Cup season in 2011. IVASHKO is 32 and just starting to compete at the highest international level, while FANCHIN is 23 and recently qualified to represent the U.S. at this year’s Pan Am Games and Olympic Test Event.   IVASHKO shot a superb first set (30 points) for an almost certain victory, and his opponent followed with 28 points (2-0).  It was FANCHIN's turn to score 2 set points in the second set, outscoring IVASHKO 28-27 (2-2). In the third set, both archers tied at 26-26 (3-3). In the fourth, FANCHIN hammered his opponent with two consecutive arrows in the 10 ring, while IVASHKO shot 27 points (5-3). In the fifth set, FANCHIN kept shooting really well with two more consecutive 10s, leaving no chance to his Ukrainien opponent, who shot 9-9-8. FANCHIN won the set and the bronze medal 7-3.   Gael PREVOST : Both archers had to pay extra attention to the wind that started to blow more strongly, coming from the left side of the field. FANCHIN won that match thanks to great shooting in the fourth and fifth sets.   Gold medal Final – Brady ELLISON (1) v Dmytro HRACHOV (UKR/2) Dmytro HRACHOV has been shooting at elite level for a long time. He won a team bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and he won his first World Cup individual medal in June in Antalya – a bronze. His opponent for this match was no less than the 2010 World Cup Final winner Brady ELLISON, who had not lost a single individual match in the World Cup this year – he won gold medals in both Porec and Antalya! Both archers have already qualified for the World Cup Final in Istanbul regardless of today’s result.   The odds were in favour of ELLISON. He defeated HRACHOV twice in recent competition, both times at the World Cup Stage 2 in Antalya. In 2010 he won 6-2 in the quarterfinals, and this year he defeated the Ukrainian archer 7-3 in the Stage 2 semifinals.   In the first set of this final, both archers shot the same scores (28-28, 1-1). In the second set, HRACHOV started with an 8 and ELLISON outscored him with 9 and 10. HRACHOV shot a better final arrow (10), but it wasn't enough to win the set. ELLISON led 3-1. The American champion started the third set with two 8s, and the same  happened to his opponent who also started with an 8. Brady ELLISON's last arrow was a 10, but neither of the two archers won the set, rather they tied at 26-26. In the fourth set, ELLISON started with a 10, against a 9 from HRACHOV; the American archer went on shooting in the gold with two 9s, against one 9 and one 8 from his opponent. Brady ELLISON won the set and the match 6-2. In doing so, he won his third straight World Cup stage gold this season! This was also his third gold medal of the day after the team and mixed team golds!   Gael PREVOST: Brady ELLISON was very impressive. He won three consecutive World Cup stage gold medals and managed to stay calm the whole day.   The competition continues on Saturday 6 August with the compound final.   World Archery Communication