WILLETT JR and ANSCHUTZ win Longines Prize

  The Longines Prize for Precision for archery was launched in 2010. The two most precise archers during the World Cup season from two categories will win the trophy, a watch and a 5,000 Swiss francs prize. In 2011, the compound athletes who shoot the most 10s during all individual qualifications and matches as of the 1/16 eliminations of the World Cup won the Longines Prize for Precision.   On the men’s side, it all came down to the last match between the Americans Rodger WILLETT JR and Reo WILDE! WILLETT has dominated the ranking since the first stage. He actually won the first three stages! However WILDE has come very close to him thanks to his magnificent victory in Shanghai during the last stage with a perfect 150 in the gold medal match. In the Istanbul, both archers won their quarterfinal and semifinals to reach the gold medal match. Everything was at stake! Trailing with by four 10s, WILDE still had the chance to catch WILLETT on the finish line for the World Cup Trophy AND for the Longines Prize for Precision. However, WILLETT won the final 143-141 (adding 9 more 10s out of 15 arrows for a total of 424 tens) to show he was the true champion of the season! Three victories in the stages, victories in the grand Final and Longines Prize for Precision!   Here is the final top 10 ranking of the Longines Prize for Precision 2011 in Compound Men:   Athletes Country Number of 10's   1 Willett Jr. Rodger USA 424 2 Wilde Reo USA 418 3 Gellenthien Braden USA 338 4 Pagni Sergio Italy 325 5 Damsbo Martin Denmark 316 6 Trillus Dietmar Canada 287 7 Deloche Pierre Julien France 286 8 Hernandez Roberto El Salvador 259 9 Jimenez Jorge El Salvador 250 10 Titscher Paul Germany 206       On the women’s side, this has been a close race between Erika ANSCHUTZ (USA), Laura LONGO (ITA), Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) and Christie COLIN (USA). LONGO arrived in Istanbul with the smallest lead over ANSCHUTZ (276 to 275), while LOGINOVA has 262 and COLIN, 255. With her losses in quarterfinals in Istanbul LONGO and LOGINOVA stopped contending for the Prize. ANSCHUTZ and COLIN went all the way to the gold final, but the latter trailed her teammate by too many 10s. At the end ANSHCHUTZ showed anyway that she was best compound women archer of the year with a victory 142-138. She won Stage 1 in Porec, ranked 2nd in Ogden and Shanghai. She won the Final in Istanbul and the Longines Prize for Precision with 304 tens for the season!   Here is the final top 10 ranking of the Longines Prize for Precision 2011 in Compound Women:   Athletes Country Number of 10's   1 Anschutz Erika USA 304 2 Longo Laura Italy 282 3 Colin Christie USA 272 4 Loginova Albina Russia 268 5 Tonioli Marcella Italy 256 6 Van Natta Jamie USA 242 7 Parsamehr Mahtab I.R. Iran 205 8 Watson Diane USA 190 9 Balzhanova Viktoria Russia 172 10 Willems Gladys Belgium 169     Here are the final rankings.   In Istanbul, Longines representatives Mr Juan Carlos CAPELLI and Mrs Louise MORO awarded the winners with the Prize. The Longines Marketing Director CAPELLI said: “Longines is delighted to support archery because we share the same values of tradition, performance and precision. We have run Longines Prizes for more than a decade. We started with gymnastics, then equestrian, and in the last two years we added tennis and archery. Today, we hare very happy to reward two great athletes. They have displayed amazing performances during the whole season and they truly deserve the Longines Prize for Precision 2011!”   The compound athletes shoot for the Longines Prize for Precision in odd-years (2011), while the recurve athletes compete for it in even years. Last year, recurve archers Brady ELLISON (USA) and Justyna MOSPINEK (POL) won the Prize.   Longines is a proud sponsor of World Archery since 2008. The brand plays a key role in the results and timing services of the World Cup events. Longines also offers a watch to each winner in the Archery World Cup and World Championships.   Didier MIEVILLE World Archery Communication